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TWO ROYAL FOES 















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1 


Bettina 


Two Royal Foes 


By 

EVA MADDEN 



ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE KINNEYS 


NEW YORK 

THE MCCLURE COMPANY 
MCMVII 




* 1 - 



Copyright , 1907 , fry The McClure Company 


Published, October, 1907 


LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

OCT IS 1907 


Copyright Entry 

Cl* ft /toy 

CLASS 4 XXc. No, 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Mighty Foe ..... 3 

II. The Angel of Prussia . . . .18 

III. At Jena ...... 41 

IV. At the Forest House .... 50 

V. The Journey ..... 63 

VI. The Downfall . . . . .81 

VII. On the Road to Memel ... 95 

VIII. Among Friends ..... 106 

IX. The Stork's Nest . . . . .116 

X. Fresh Troubles . . . . .136 

XI. The Mother of Her People . . . 150 - 

XII. Otto ....... 164 

XIII. The Journal . . . . .172 

XIV. Princess Louisa . . . . .181 

XV. The Marriage . . . . .193 

XVI. What Happened to Hans . . . 224 

XVII. At Tilsit 237 

XVIII. The Escape 247 

XIX. The Foes Meet ..... 253 

XX. The Answer ..... 266 

XXI. The Herr Lieutenant ..... 275 


CONTENTS 


vi 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXII. Days of Darkness .... 288 

XXIII. The Entrance into Berlin . . 800 

XXIV. ‘‘My Queen, My Poor Queen !” . . 810 

XXV. Afterwards . . . . .817 

XXVI. The Check ..... 820 

XXVII. The People’s War .... 825 

XXVIII. The Foe Conquered .... 880 

XXIX. Thuringia ..... 888 

XXX. The Foes at Rest ... . ... .. 841 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 

PAGK 

Bettina Frontispiece 

“My Dollie is Named Anna” 64 

“Sire, with Magdeburg?” . . 268 


“I Have Some News to Tell You” 


. . 286 



TWO ROYAL FOES 












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CHAPTER I 


THE MIGHTY FOE 

One afternoon, a hundred and one years ago, old 
Hans took little Bettina to visit her godmother, Frau 
Schmidt, who lived in a red-roofed house not far from 
the old church of St. Michael’s in Jena. 

Bettina loved to go to Frau Schmidt’s. First, there 
was Wilhelm, her godmother’s son, who was so good to 
her, and cut her toys out of wood, and told her all kinds 
of fine stories. And then there were the soldiers. They 
were everywhere, standing in groups about the Market, 
marching in companies, or clattering on horses through 
the never quiet streets. 

The way from Bettina’s home to Jena led through a 
deep, still, green forest, and as she and her grandfather 
strolled along that October afternoon the little girl 
begged him for a story. 

44 Ja, ja, my Bettina,” and the old man gave her a 
smile, 44 there is old Frederick Barbarossa.” 

Then, with a 44 Once upon a time,” he told her how, 
in a cave in their own Thuringian Wood in the Kyff- 
hauser Mountain, an old emperor of Germany had slept 
for hundreds and hundreds of years, his head on his 


4 TWO ROYAL FOES 

elbows, which rested on a great stone table in the middle 

of the cavern. 

“ And his beard, child, has grown down to the floor, 
and it is red as a flame, and his hair — it is red, too, quite 
blazing, child, they say — wraps about him like a veil. 
And before the cave and around it — you can see them 
yourself, little one, if you go there — are ravens, cawing 
and cawing and flying ever in circles.” 

“ And when will the old Emperor wake up, dear 
grandfather? ” Bettina had a sweet, high little voice 
which quivered with eagerness. The old man shook his 
head. 

“No man knows, child,” he answered, “ but I have 
heard always that one day the ravens will flap their 
wings, caw aloud, and fly forever away from the moun- 
tain. And then,” his blue eyes flashed, “ the old Kaiser 
shall awake; he shall grasp his great sword in his hand 
and holding it fast shall come forth from his gloomy 
old cave to the sunlight.” 

“And then, dear grandfather, what then?” 

“ There shall great things be done, dear child.” 
Again his eyes flashed. “ Germany shall stretch herself 
like the old Redbeard. She, too, is asleep, and she shall 
take her sword in her hand and come forth, and we shall 
be one people, one great, great Fatherland.” The old 
face grew dreamy, the voice, very slow. 


THE MIGHTY FOE 


5 


66 And will there always be fighting, dear grand- 
father? ” 

Hans shook his head. 

M Nein, nein, the old Redbeard is to bring war which 
shall make peace.” 

Hans was silent for a moment and then, with a laugh, 
he lifted a very full, deep voice and sang an old German 
song of the same Kaiser Barbarossa, and when Bettina 
caught the tune, she sang, too, and the old forest rang 
with the music all the way to Jena. 

When they entered the town the old man took Bettina 
almost to the church. 

“ Now, little one,” he said, “ run away to Tante 
Gretchen and tell her to keep you until I come after 
supper.” 

“ Auf wiedersehen, dear grandfather,” and off trotted 
the little girl and into her godmother’s house with a 
“ Good-day, dear Tante Gretchen ! ” 

Wilhelm was at home, and he carved Bettina a little 
doll, and she enjoyed herself very much indeed, hearing 
all about the soldiers and all that they were doing in 
Jena, but she was only nine years old and tired with her 
walk, and so, when long after supper her grandfather 
opened the door, she was fast asleep in her chair, her 
tired little feet dangling. 

’ Frau Schmidt greeted him crossly. 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


44 Don’t excuse yourself, Hans,” she said, 44 You for- 
got the child, I know it. Perhaps you have been home 
and had to come back for her? Nein? Well, what was 
it then that kept you? You know, Hans, how anxious 
her mother will be, with the child out in the night 
time.” 

The old man hung his head. Certainly he had for- 
gotten the child. He was always forgetting everything 
and everybody, and some day, as the women of his 
family were always telling him, he was certain to have a 
good lesson, a lesson, perhaps, which might teach him 
to remember. 

44 You are right, Gretchen,” he said, 44 but, you see, 
my dear woman, when an old soldier of Frederick the 
Great meets again the Prussians, there is much news to 
hear, isn’t there ? ” And he looked with smiling blue 
eyes into Frau Schmidt’s kind, plump countenance. 

44 Well, well,” she said, her frown vanishing, 44 but 
come now, it’s a dreadful night and you must have a 
glass of beer before you start out into the darkness. 
Willy, uncork the bottle there.” 

Then she went to Bettina. 

44 Wake up, Liebchen,” and she gave her a tiny shake. 

44 Is it Frederick Barbarossa?” And Bettina came 
forth from dreamland. 

44 Nein, nein, child, it’s grandfather,” and she 


THE MIGHTY FOE 7 

wrapped the little girl in her shawl. “ But wake up 
now. It is late, and time to go home to mother.” 

Then she turned to Hans, Bettina’s little hand held 
fast in hers. 

“ Quick, friend, hurry,” she said, “ and be off now. 
The night is terrible and Annchen will be anxious, will 
she not? ” And she nodded to Wilhelm to hold the light. 

Draining his glass, Hans set it down on the table with 
a sigh of pleasure. 

“ Ja, ja,” he said, as he drew closer his cloak. 

“ A moment,” and Frau Schmidt stepped to the tall, 
green porcelain stove which served, before firetime, as 
her storehouse. 

66 Here,” she said, and from one of its little recesses 
she brought forth a bundle done up with paper and 
string. 

“ Some sausages, please, for Anna,” and she gave 
Hans the package, “ and best greetings.” 

Then, in her quick, kind way, she hurried them to the 
door, bundling Bettina more closely as they went. 

“ Auf wiedersehen, good-night, good-night,” and she 
held open the door. “ The weather truly is dreadful. 
Here, Willy, here, my son, hold the candle higher. Ja, 
ja, that is better. Can you see, Hans? Good-night, 
Bettina. Best greetings to your dear mother, and good- 
night, good-night.” 


8 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Good-night, dear Tante, good-night, Willy,” and 
Bettina stumbled sleepily off with her grandfather, 
Willy calling after her not to let the Erl King get 
her. 

It was, indeed, a dreadful night. The candle which 
Wilhelm held high, standing long in the doorway, made 
but little impression on a fog which, wrapping the world 
in mystery, stung Bettina in the face, choked up her 
throat and gave her a queer feeling of having lost even 
the world itself. 

She drew close to her grandfather and nestled against 
his side, her hand seeking his in the darkness. 

“ Ja, ja, little one,” he said, “ do not fear, child, 
grandfather knows every step of the way.” 

He might know the way, but he certainly did not 
know the puddles. 

Splash ! 

Bettina’s little wooden shoe went deep into the 
water. 

Bump! 

One foot was in a hole, a bush held fast her shawl. 

It would be all right when they reached the forest 
and the path went straight between the fir trees, but here 
it was awful. 

“ Ach Himmel,” groaned Hans, splashing and stum- 
bling, “ but your mother will scold, little one ! But what 


THE MIGHTY FOE & 

could your poor grandfather do? I find it good that a 
man hear the war news and, talking with the soldiers, 
I forgot the hour.” 

“ Never mind, dear grandfather,” came the little 
voice out of the fog. “ Mother will be in bed and we will 
slip in, oh, so lightly, just like a kitty, and she won’t 
hear a sound.” 

Bettina took care of her grandfather like an old 
woman, her father always said, and so she tried to speak 
very bravely. 

She might talk bravely ; talking is easy enough even 
for little Bettinas ; but to feel bravely is quite a different 
thing and, deep down in her heart, Bettina was fright- 
ened to coldness. 

Willy had told her the story of the Erl King who gets 
children who are out on wild nights. He promises them 
toys and all sorts of playthings, and then when they 
listen he clasps them in his arms until they are frozen 
and dead. And this King has two daughters and they 
call out through the storm. 

Would he get her, this Erl King? 

Little Bettina shivered all over. 

From over towards Jena she surely heard a tramp, and 
sometimes she seemed to see the waving of the Erl 
King’s mantle in the fog. 

But her grandfather kept on with his talking. 


10 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Ja, ja,” he said, “we’ll beat them, we’ll beat them. 
We’ll give the French a lesson this time, our soldiers all 
promise it. And that Corsican — we’ll teach him, too. 
Why not? We Prussians $re three to the French one, 
and soldiers of Frederick the Great to boot. Ja wohl, 
little one, we’ll have a famous victory! ” 

But Bettina was not listening. 

While her grandfather had gone on with his talk, her 
little hand had grown cold in his clasp, her tongue had 
become dry, and her back felt as if water were running 
down it. 

It was the Erl King that was coming, Ach Himmel! 
she knew it. 

There were his two eyes, blazing like great stars 
through the fog. 

Nearer they came, and nearer, and she heard the 
tramp of his steed, and, oh, if he called her, not even 
her grandfather could hold her, Willy had said so. 

Brighter grew the eyes, and brighter. 

“ Grandfather,” she tried to call, but her throat would 
not move. Nearer the Erl King came, and between the 
eyes she saw something great, and tall, and white, and 
dreadful. Nearer it came. Nearer! Nearer! 

“ Ach Himmel ! ” Her grandfather’s voice broke the 
spell. “ But who are coming? ” 

Then the two great eyes suddenly turned into torches, 


THE MIGHTY FOE 11 

and one was held by the Postmaster of Jena, and the 
other by a French officer, and between them the lights 
showed a white horse, and on its back sat a man whose 
eyes seemed to pierce right through the fog and the 
darkness. 

Bettina shrank against her grandfather. The one on 
the horse frightened her even as much as if he were the 
Erl King. Never had she seen such piercing eyes nor 
felt so terrified. He was small and stout, and he wore an 
overcoat of green with white facings. His hat was 
folded up front and back, and his mouth was as beauti- 
ful as the rest of his face was hard and terrifying. But 
even his beautiful lips seemed to say, “ Keep out of my 
way, or I shall ride over you.” 

One firm, strong hand held the bridle of his horse, 
with the other he pointed, his whip held fast, through 
the fog towards the dim outline of the great old moun- 
tain of Dornburg. 

When he spoke it was in French. Bettina could not 
understand him, but Hans, who, like most Germans of 
that day, spoke both languages, heard him say: 

“ Those Prussians have left the heights. They were 
afraid,” then, with a laugh of scorn, he interrupted him- 
self, “ afraid of the night,” he continued, “ and have 
descended to sleep in the valley. They believe that we 
shall not take advantage of their slumber.” Again he 


12 TWO ROYAL FOES 

laughed, and so disagreeably that Bettina shivered; 

“but they are dreadfully mistaken, those old wigs!” 

Laughter joined with his, and two horses appeared in 
his rear and the torches revealed their riders to be 
French Marshals in uniform. 

But the Postmaster was silent, his face darkening. 

As for Hans, he muttered under his breath to Bet- 
tina: 

“Ach Himmel, but hear him. He calls the generals 
of Frederick the Great, 6 old wigs.’ ” 

“ Grandfather,” Bettina pulled at him to bend down 
and listen, “ is it the Erl King? Will he get me? ” 

“The Erl King?” The old man was completely 
puzzled. “ The one on the white horse, child, you mean ? 
That, my Bettina, is the Emperor ! 99 

The Emperor ! Oh, Heavens ! Then, indeed, did Bet- 
tina wish that she wa,s home with her mother. Better 
the Erl King, better the old witch who got Hans and 
Gretel, better any number of cruel step-mothers : better 
all the witches, giants and ogres than the dreadful 
monster everyone called “ The Emperor ! ” 

Only that afternoon had her godmother told Willy 
that he lived but for blood, and that Death followed 
every step of that white horse. 

“ It would be well for the world if God took him,” 
she had added, and now this dreadful monster was point- 


THE MIGHTY FOE 13 

ing his whip at her, little Bettina Weyland, and asking 
the Postmaster who were these people in his path. 

When he had an answer he motioned them to pass 
quickly. Then, dismounting, he and his generals pro- 
ceeded up the hill of Jena. 

As Hans and Bettina went on their way his voice fol- 
lowed after, and it was not pleasant things it said, for 
it stormed at Marshal Lannes because his artillery had 
stuck fast in a gorge. And then Hans heard something 
about the Prussians and good-morning. 

As for Hans he was hot with fury. 

“ ‘ Old wigs,’ ” he kept muttering, “ 4 Old wigs,’ in- 
deed ! Did you hear him, the villain, Bettina, call our 
generals 6 old wigs ’ ? ” 

But Bettina had herself, and not the generals of Prus- 
sia, to think of. 

“ Grandfather,” she cried, “ grandfather, will the 
Emperor get us ? ” 

Her grandfather laughed almost merrily, 

“ Nein, nein, little one,” he said. “ In a day or two 
the soldiers of Frederick the Great will set that white 
horse scampering back to Paris. Nein, nein, my little 
Bettina, there is nothing to fear. But come, here is our 
path in the forest. We are safe now, and out of the 
puddles.” 

Their home lay on the edge of the deep, green wood, 


U TWO ROYAL FOES 

a little red-roofed forest house with a paved courtyard, 
with a barn for the cows, and a garden in front. It 
was a lovely spot, but a very lonely one, but they must 
live there because Bettina’s father, Kaspar Weyland, 
was an under forester. But just then he was in the army 
and Frau Weyland was alone with the children. 

Her voice reached them almost as soon as they came 
out of the deep forest. 

“ Father, is that you ? ” she called. “ Father ! ” 

“ Ja, ja, dear daughter. Open the door and hear the 
news.” 

“ God be thanked you have come.” And she appeared 
in the doorway, holding in one hand a light, and draw- 
ing a shawl about her bedgown with the other. 

“Oh, father, father, how could you?” 

She was young and looked like a grown-up Bettina 
with golden hair showing under the edges of her night- 
cap. She shut the door hastily as they entered. 

“ Annchen, Annchen,” the old man made no excuses, 
“we have just seen the Emperor in the fields near 
Jena.” 

“ The Emperor ! ” Frau Weyland set down her light. 
Her father nodding, she cried out, wringing her hands : 

“Ach Gott! Ach Gott! Then, father, we shall have 
a battle.” 

The old man shrugged his broad shoulders. 


THE MIGHTY FOE 15 

“ It may be, daughter,” he bent down and kissed her, 
“ but who can tell? The Prussians, to-day, said not.” 

Then, sitting in a wooden chair by the table, she, 
standing and listening, Bettina’s hand in hers, he told 
all he had heard at Jena and described their adventures, 
weary little Bettina sleepily listening. And he told how 
the Prussian soldiers had gone early to bed because of 
the damp and the fog, and of how they had no cloaks, 
and how, the bread giving out, they had been on half 
rations for some days. 

“ But their spirits are brave, daughter,” he added, 
“ and you never heard such boasting. They are certain 
of victory; certain, Anna. Prince Hohenlohe was with 
them this afternoon, and he laughed like a boy when 
a soldier declared that he would catch one Frenchman, 
another two, a third, four, and so on. You never heard 
such boasting.” 

Frau Weyland shook her head, her nightcap bob- 
bing. 

“ Boasting, father, never won a prize yet. It is doing 
that counts, and the Emperor was out in such weather, 
studying the field, and the Prussians sleeping. Ach, I 
do not find that promising.” 

Then suddenly she ran to her father, she clung to him 
like a child, her blue eyes gazing up into his like 
Bettina’s. 


16 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Ah, father,” her lips quivered, “ if there should be a 
battle and my Kaspar ” 

The old man wrapped her in his strong arms. She 
was his only child and the best of daughters. 

“ There will be a battle, dear Anna,” he said quite 
solemnly ; “ it is war, now, and there must be. But why 
should harm come to Kaspar P Look at me ” 

His eyes began to kindle, and his daughter, who knew 
what was coming, loosened his arms and rose. 

“ Why, in the battle of ” 

u Ja, ja, father,” Frau Weyland interrupted with a 
half smile. When her father began on his battles time 
might go its way unheeded. “ I know, you have told me. 
But come now, we have forgotten our little Bettina. She 
must at once go to bed. It is late enough, goodness 
knows.” 

Then she unpinned Bettina’s shawl and shook out the 
damp. 

“ Good-night, dear father,” she kissed the old man 
tenderly, “ sleep well, and I’ll call you in time in the 
morning. Oh, the sausage is from GretchenP Many 
thanks and good-night. Come, come, Bettina,” and she 
started towards her own room. 

Her father proceeded in the opposite direction. On 
the threshold of a second door he paused. 

“ Annchen,” he called, for his daughter had departed. 


THE MIGHTY FOE 17 

“Ja, father,” she came back to her door holding 
Bettina by the hand. 

“ He called our generals ‘ old wigs, 5 6 old wigs,’ did 
you understand, daughter? The generals of the Great 
Frederick’s army, and he, an upstart villain of a Cor- 
sican. Old wigs, indeed ! Let him wait, the monster, we’ll 
show him, we’ll show him.” 

With a last good-night the old soldier of Frederick 
the Great departed to snore away under his feather bed 
quite the same as if nothing had happened. 


CHAPTER II 
THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 

Next morning Frau Weyland called Bettina early. 

“ Good-morning, dear child,” she said, kissing her 
round little cheek. “ Grandfather must go far into the 
forest. Would you like to go with him? You may have 
a little basket like a wood gatherer and bring mother 
back some faggots.” 

Bettina was glad, indeed, to get up. She had had a 
dreadful time. All night long it had seemed to her that 
the awful Emperor was always trying to catch her, and 
then she would wake with a start. Sometimes he had a 
long, red beard, sometimes he was draped in grey mist 
and wore a golden crown ; and always he was riding the 
white horse. 

Her mother looked at her kindly. 

“ If you are tired, dear,” she began, but Bettina was 
eager to go. 

“ Nein, nein, dear mother,” she cried, “ I love to go 
with grandfather.” 

So she hurried on her clothes and drank her milk and 
ate her bread and said “ Auf wiedersehen ” to her 
mother. Then she started off with her grandfather. 

18 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 19 

Frau Weyland stood in the door and watched them, wav- 
ing her hand and smiling. 

She was very pretty. When she was sixteen, and only 
just betrothed to Kaspar Weyland, people said she was 
like the “ Lorelei,” the maiden who sits on a rock in the 
Rhine and sings songs to enchant the boatmen, all the 
time combing her golden hair and gazing in a jewelled 
mirror. 

And she was so good to old Hans, and never cross 
with Bettina, and always the meals were hot and ready, 
and the house clean and quiet. About the doorway grew 
a vine and October had brought the frost and turned it 
crimson. It fell all about her like a frame as she stood 
there, so gentle and smiling. It was foggy still, but there 
was a light in the sky before which the mist must soon 
vanish. When they reached the gate Hans turned for 
a last “ Auf wiedersehen ” to his Annchen. 

“ Till we meet again ” it means, and little did old 
Hans think as he waved his hand to his daughter that 
never in all the world was he ever to hear his golden- 
haired Anna again. How could he? What could hap- 
pen? She was never so well in all her life, and he and 
Bettina would return to dinner. So gaily he and the little 
girl entered the forest and presently, through the fog, 
they saw a great red ball of a sun which grew brighter 
and brighter. 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


20 

As for Frau Weyland, she returned to her work. 
There was much to do with two children to wash and 
dress, a house to clean, chickens to feed, cream cheese 
to make, and dinner to prepare for the family. 

The daylight showed Hans to be tall and strong with 
broad shoulders and the walk of a soldier. His grey 
hair was drawn back and tied in a queue, and on one 
ruddy cheek was a scar from a sabre cut. Hans was very 
proud of this, because he had won it in one of the battles 
of the Great Frederick. His eyes were like his daughter’s 
and like Bettina’s, very blue, and very big, and gleam- 
ing with gentleness. But in Hans’ eyes there was some- 
thing different. At once were they merry and full of 
dreams as if he could joke and yet be, also, very 
melancholy. 

As for Bettina, she was a little fairy of a girl who 
tripped along and seemed barely to touch the ground. 
Her hair was golden and hung in two tight little braids 
to her waist. Her dress was of red and made very high 
under her arms and clinging about her little ankles. 
Her head was quite bare, and a deep little wicker basket 
was strapped on her back in which to bring home some 
pine cones or scrub oak leaves for the goat. 

“ I’m a wood gatherer, grandfather,” she pretended, 
and tripped along behind him. 

She loved her grandfather. He told such nice stories 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 91 

and never was cross like her grandfather Weyland, who 
always said children should be seen, not heard, and in 
an entirely different tone from the pleasant one he used 
with grown people. 

“ I love the forest, grandfather.” Bettina’s eyes 
sparkled. 

“ Ja, ja, little one,” said Hans, “it is German to 
love all Nature, and, truly, our forest is beautiful.” 

Bettina nodded and gazed about at the tall giant-like 
pines and her little nose drew in the deep fragrance of 
the firs. She was glad that she did not live in Jena, but 
deep in this lovely Thuringian wood, where the trunks 
of the trees looked like armies of soldiers. There were 
lovely things in the forest. 

In its thick, pine-needle carpet grew lovely toadstools, 
red and yellow and brown, and sometimes all queerly 
shaped and striped and just like umbrellas and parasols. 
And the moss was thick and grew like a velvet carpet 
and raised up the dearest little red cups, and the ferns 
waved like feathers, and, in spring, there were the lilies 
of the valley which rang tiny white bells for the fairies 
to come and dance round the gay little toadstools. 
And, later, there were the Canterbury bells, so lovely 
and purple. And, in and out the trees, ran great, bushy- 
tailed red squirrels who peeped at her with eyes bright 
and sparkling, and sometimes she saw little companies 


n 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


of deer and tiny fawns with their mothers, and their eyes 
were like “ Little Brother ” in the fairy tale, for it was 
in these very forests that some of the witches once lived, 
and the fairies in “ Grimm,” and many of the people of 
the German stories. 

Bettina knew that the fairies slept on the moss and 
danced under the toadstools, only it was strange that 
she never had seen them, nor had her mother, nor her 
father, nor her grandfather, nor Willy. 

But they were there. All the stories said so. 

“ Do you think, grandfather,” she asked, “ that 
‘ Little Brother 9 really was turned into a fawn? ” 

“ Who can tell, Kindlein ? ” answered old Hans, but 
his mind was on other things than Bettina and her fairy 
tales. 

“ Hard times ! hard times ! ” he muttered. “ Always 
war somewhere, and what then for poor people? Work! 
Work! Work!” 

Bettina was too small to understand, but, certainly, 
affairs were gloomy. 

The King of Prussia had declared war upon the Em- 
peror of the French ; the Duke of Weimar, ruler of the 
forest they were walking through and friend of the great 
poet, Goethe, had joined the king as his ally. And now 
soldiers were round about and everywhere. 

Soldiers were nothing new to Bettina. She had seen 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 23 

them all her life. But the Emperor of the French ! That 
was another thing, and an awful one. She shuddered as 
her grandfather muttered his name. 

He was a dreadful man. Her mother always said so. 
At the mention of his name every child in Germany be- 
haved itself. And to think that she, Bettina Weyland, 
had seen this monster on the white horse everybody talked 
so about. 

Remembering the night before, Bettina trembled. 
Then, too, it seemed to her that she kept hearing a queer 
sound of roaring — not loud, but far away towards Jena, 
a rumble which frightened her. 

But old Hans seemed to hear nothing. His mind, as 
old minds will, had travelled into the past and he had 
forgotten the Thuringian Wood, the bright-eyed red 
squirrels, the deer, and even little Bettina chatting so 
innocently as she trotted along behind him. 

In his day the world had changed greatly, old 
things were passing away and no one knew what was 
coming. 

In America, the Colonies under Washington had won 
their independence and founded a Republic. In France, 
there had been a dreadful Revolution, and Louis the 
Sixteenth and Marie Antoinette had been guillotined. A 
Corsican soldier first had become France’s first consul, 
and now he was the Emperor Bettina so dreaded. The 


24 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Holy Roman Empire, whose Emperor had lived in Vienna 
and ruled Germany, was no more, and France’s Emperor, 
Napoleon, had brought war all over the world. Europe 
had been fighting during Hans’ whole lifetime, and all 
the small countries had belonged so to first one big one 
and then another, that it was hard sometimes to exactly 
know who was one’s ruler. 

“ And now,” said Hans aloud, “ the French have come 
into Thuringia, and our troubles begin.” 

How dreadful these troubles were to be the old man 
had not even an idea. Little did he think as he walked 
along with Bettina that before twenty-four hours should 
have passed, a nation should fall, his own home be no 
more, and Thuringia blood-stained and overrun with 
soldiers. 

What he did know was that the King of Prussia and 
the Duke of Brunswick were at Auerstadt, Prince 
Hohenlohe at Jena, and Napoleon, with the French, in 
the same neighbourhood. 

“ But there will be no battle ; nonsense,” the Prussians 
had all told him in Jena. “ And if there should be, who, 
tell us, would be victors but the soldiers of Frederick the 
Great? Was not his army invincible?” 

“What matter?” they had answered when someone 
had ventured to refer to Napoleon and his victories. 
“ He must yield to us Prussians. Why not ? The moment 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 25 

that he heard that we were at Jena did he not leave 
Weimar in haste and retreat to Gera? ” 

In security they had gone to rest, and while they 
slept, Napoleon had been planning a surprise for them. 

While old Hans was thinking, he suddenly found out 
what the Emperor had meant by his good-morning. 

66 Grandfather, oh, grandfather ! ” in sudden fright 
called out little Bettina, “ Oh, grandfather, what is it? ” 
Hans’ neck had stretched itself forward, his ears 
were listening, his whole body on a strain, for a roar, 
deep and full and awful, seemed suddenly to roll through 
the quiet of the silent, green forest. 

“ Grandfather ! ” 

The old man turned his face as excited as a boy’s. 

“ Himmel, child, Himmel ! ” he cried. “ The Emperor 
is saying good-morning. It is cannon you hear. The 
battle has begun at Jena! ” 

“ Come, come,” he continued, “ I will not go any 
farther. Let the trees take care of themselves for this 
morning. Come, come! What has an old soldier of 
Frederick the Great to do with fir trees when the cannon 
are sounding for battle? ” And he started quickly in an 
opposite direction. Bettina had to run so to keep up 
with him that her breath came in little pants and her 
heart beat violently. But the roar was so awful she was 
glad to be running to get away from it. 


26 TWO ROYAL FOES 

If that was the voice of Napoleon saying good-morn- 
ing, no wonder people were afraid of him. 

44 Grandfather,” she panted, 44 dear grandfather, will 
the Emperor get my father? ” 

Hans’ glowing face became suddenly sober. He had 
forgotten his son-in-law, as he forgot everything. He 
paused in the narrow forest path and raised his old blue 
eyes to Heaven. 

44 Let us pray to the good God, my Bettina. He alone 
can save him in the battle.” 

For a moment he stood silent, his face gazing upward 
to the sky which showed now between the fir trees. 
When he had ended his prayer he went on more slowly 
and as they walked he told Bettina why the French and 
the Prussians were fighting. For eight years, he said, 
the King of Prussa had kept out of all the fighting in 
Europe, although both Russia and Austria had en- 
treated him to help them. But he declared that his 
country was too poor, he loved peace, and his people 
needed quiet. 

44 And wasn’t that right, grandfather? ” asked Bet- 
tina, who had been told that fighting was wicked. 

“Perhaps, dear child, perhaps,” the old soldier an- 
swered, 44 but it’s a good thing to help our neighbours 
when they need us. But the King of Prussia is good and 
saving, too, not at all like the old King who spent so 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 27 

much, and whose ministers brought Prussia to all this 
trouble.” 

Then he explained how Napoleon would not let the 
King of Prussia alone, how he had irritated him with 
taunts, how he had provoked him with outrages, break- 
ing a solemn promise about the Kingdom of Hanover, 
quartering ten thousand soldiers on German soil, form- 
ing all the South German States into a Confederation 
of the Rhine to depend upon him, and not upon the 
Emperor of Austria, or the King of Prussia, and last, 
and worst of all, defying the laws of nations, he had 
marched French soldiers across neutral Prussia. 

“ The King of Prussia is a good man, my Bettina, a 
very good man,” old Hans nodded. “ He has saved much 
money for Prussia, but no man can stand everything, 
and so now we have war.” 

Bettina tried to listen, but all she could think of was 
the dreadful Emperor on his white horse. She could see 
him again in his green overcoat with its white facings, 
and feel the gleam of his eyes from beneath his queer 
hat, and now he was firing cannon on her father. She 
could not keep back her tears at the thought, and 
they rolled down her cheeks and splashed to her red 
dress. 

“Will he get us, grandfather, will he get us?” she 
cried. 


28 TWO ROYAL FOES 

“ Nein, nein, little one,” Hans answered. “ That white 
horse will kick up its heels and start back to Paris, per- 
haps this evening.” 

“ God be praised ! ” said little Bettina in the way all 
the Germans say it. Then, suddenly, she pointed before 
her. 

In an opening in the forest where grew beeches, not 
evergreens, stood a group of wood gatherers by a rip- 
pling stream which babbled through the rocks, ferns 
dipping down their fronds from its banks to its water. 
They were all women in short coloured skirts and loose 
jackets, deep wicker baskets full of faggots strapped 
on their shoulders, their heads bare and bowed a little 
because of the sticks, and their faces all frightened and 
wild looking. 

“ Herr Lange ! Herr Lange ! ” they called when they 
saw Hans and little Bettina, “ what is it? What is all 
that roaring? ” 

" Cannon,” said Hans shortly. “ The battle, women, 
has begun at J ena.” 

Then came a noise of talk and tears and outcrying 
such as never is heard out of Germany. Louisa had a 
husband with the Duke; Emma, a son; Grete, a lover; 
Magdalena, a father. 

“ Ach Gott ! Ach Gott ! Ach Gott ! ” sobbed a woman 
with sad dark eyes and great shaggy white eyebrows. 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 29 

“ The Poles killed my man,” she wailed, “ the French, 
my sons ; and now ” 

“ Her grandsons are with the Duke,” explained a 
pink-cheeked woman the rest called Minna. 

“ Come, come, women,” Hans glanced kindly from one 
weeping face to the other, “ who says that your hus- 
bands and sons will be killed? They may come home 
victorious; why not? The Prussians are three to the 
French one. They are the soldiers of Frederick the 
Great, and is not your own brave Duke helping them? 
Come, come, dry your tears. The thing, now, is to get 
out of this forest. Who knows when the French will be- 
gin running and the roads be full of soldiers? ” 

He started forward with Bettina, and the wood- 
gatherers in single file left the golden beechwood and, a 
line of bright colour, moved after him through the deep, 
green forest, swallowing their tears and struggling 
against their sobbing. On they went, the cannon roar- 
ing and thundering, and, presently, they came out on a 
highway winding like a white ribbon through the forest’s 
greenness. 

They were but out of the path when a quick, noisy 
sound of hoofs on the road made them start and stop 
suddenly. 

66 Soldiers ! ” cried Hans, and the whole party scat- 
tered to the edge of the forest. 


30 TWO ROYAL FOES 

They were Prussians, and cavalry, and they acted as 
escort to a light, closed travelling carriage. 

A dash, a rise of wet dust, — it had rained the day be- 
fore, — hitting them in their faces, and the cavalcade 
passed, the roar of the cannon following like a pursuer. 

44 We’ll keep to the woods,” and Hans changed their 
direction. 

Plunging again into the greenwood, they walked with 
the firs and pines for company until the path brought 
them out on the highway opposite an inn before which 
were the same Prussian soldiers, standing about dis- 
mounted from their horses. 

The carriage was empty. 

Plainly some accident had happened, for a smith was 
busy at work on its wheel. Herr Leo, the Head Forester, 
was asking questions, and Hans, leading Bettina, pressed 
forward for the news, the wood gatherers listening 
timidly on the edge of the crowd. 

The battle had begun before daybreak. The French 
guns had said an early good-morning to the Prussians. 
The King was at Auerstadt. 

44 And where is the Emperor?” The forester leaned 
on his gun, one hand on his hip. 

44 At Jena, naturally,” said a great, red-faced Prus- 
sian, who was standing with his arm round the neck of 
his horse. 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 31 

“ The devil take him ! ” Herr Leo’s nostrils swelled 
with anger. 

“ Ja wohl,” cried the whole party, which is the Ger- 
man way of agreeing. 

“ I saw the Emperor last night, Herr Forester.” 

Every eye turned on Hans. 

Then he told his story, and the brows of the soldiers 
grew gloomy. 

44 He, the Devil, was awake,” said one who leaned idly 
against the doorpost, 44 and we were all sleeping.” He 
shrugged his shoulders and began biting his nails as if 
in irritation. 

44 The Prussian generals are old,” said the forester. 
He was a pompous-looking man, and announced every- 
thing with an air of being a herald. 

44 He called them 4 old wigs.’ ” Han’s face flushed. 
44 The generals of Frederick the Great’s army 4 old 
wigs ’ ! ” 

At that the soldiers uttered words which made the 
women shudder. , 

The forester asked news of the fight at Saalfield. 
He had heard that there had been a skirmish, he said. 

44 Ach Gott,” cried the soldiers, 44 have you not 
heard? ” 

Then the listening ears were shocked with the news 
of the defeat and death of Prince Louis Ferdinand, he 


32 TWO ROYAL FOES 

who was the darling of the army, the Alcibiades of 
Prussia, one of the bravest princes who ever took up arms 
against an enemy. 

One thousand Saxons under this Prince had been sur- 
rounded in a narrow valley by thirty thousand of the 
enemy. The Saxons had fought bravely, but in vain. 
The horse of Prince Louis Ferdinand, leaping a ditch, 
became entangled in a high hedge and was spied by a 
French hussar. 

“ Surrender, or you are a dead man ! ” he cried, and, 
for answer, Prince Louis Ferdinand cut at him with a 
sabre. 

The Frenchman retorted with a sword thrust and 
made an end of the most gallant Prince in Germany. 

Bettina, listening, and not always entirely under- 
standing, grew cold with horror. She could see the 
flashing of the swords, and, oh, her father, her dear 
father was at Jena, and while the talk went on the 
cannon roared louder and louder. 

“ The enemy captured thirty guns,” said a red-faced 
soldier gloomily. 

“There were bad omens before the war,” announced 
the forester pompously. His wife, he told them, had 
been in Berlin and had seen the statue of Bellona, god- 
dess of war, fall from the roof of the Arsenal on the 
.very day when the King reviewed his army. 


33 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 

(i And when they had picked her up,” continued the 
forester, “ her right arm was entirely shattered ! ” 

He had another thing to tell. 

Old Field Marshal von Miillendorf, being lifted on the 
left side of his charger, had straightway fallen down on 
the right. 

At this the red-faced soldier looked impatient. 

It was certainly stupid in that big-nosed forester to 
be telling such things to the soldiers. 

u The Queen has been in camp with us,” he announced 
to change the subject. 

Then Bettina pricked up her ears. 

Oh, if only they would tell more of the Queen of 
Prussia! Who in Europe did not know of her beauty, 
her goodness, her love for her people? To Bettina she 
was like a fairy princess, for her grandfather had told 
her, over and over again, of how he had seen her ride into 
Berlin in a splendid gold coach to marry the Crown 
Prince. 

But the soldiers had their thoughts just then on 
war and they were soon talking again of the Em- 
peror. 

“The Devil,” announced the forester, “is the only 
being who can conquer the Emperor.” 

“ Or the English,” said Hans quietly ; “ remember 
Nelson and his victory of Trafalgar.” 


34 TWO ROYAL FOES 

At this there was an outcry, the whole group protest- 
ing and talking. 

66 Hold your tongue, old fool ! ” cried a fat, rude 
Prussian. 

M Ja, ja!” all the others approved him. 

“ Are not the soldiers of Frederick the Great as brave 
as the sailors of Nelson? Did not the Great Frederick 
himself say that the world was not so well poised on the 
shoulders of Atlas as the Prussian monarchy on the 
bayonets of the Prussian army ? ” 

“ Ja wohl,” cried the company. 

Then, suddenly, little Bettina’s childish voice made 
the whole party pause and listen. She spoke as fearlessly 
as if alone with Hans. 

“ Grandfather,” she said, “ grandfather, do the 
soldiers know of Frederick Barbarossa? Tell them, dear 
grandfather,” her little fp.ce glowed with excitement, 
“ tell them the ravens will wake him and he will come 
with the sword and kill the wicked Emperor,” and she 
gazed from one face to the other, her eyes bright and 
eager, 

A great laugh answered her, but one soldier, a kind- 
looking young man with blue eyes, patted her head and 
said: 

“ Brava, little one, brava ! If the ravens won’t caw 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 35 

enough, we’ll wake the old Redbeard with our cannon. 
Never fear, we’ll wake him.” 

He smiled at Bettina as if he knew how little girls 
feel, for perhaps he had a little sister at home who also 
loved stories. 

Then, before the talk could begin again, out came an 
officer, and the soldiers at his command mounted their 
horses. While the talk had gone on, the smith had 
mended the wheel and now stood in his leather apron 
as if waiting for something to happen. 

The Herr Ober-Forester stepped to one side and, 
with a wave of his important hand, motioned the wood 
gatherers to move farther from the carriage. 

The door of the inn was then thrown open by the 
Herr Landlord, bowing almost to the ground as he did 
it. Four grand ladies and a gentleman then approached 
the carriage. Nobody troubled much to look at two of 
the ladies, though they were young and very noble in 
appearance. 

The third was so dignified that everybody stood up 
a little straighter. Yet her face was as kind-looking as 
it was handsome. She was not young. Years had turned 
her hair quite snow-white, and yet her eyes were as 
bright and sparkling as a girl’s, and she greeted them 
pleasantly. 


36 TWO ROYAL FOES 

But it was at the fourth lady everyone gazed and 
gazed almost as if enchanted. Never in all her life was 
little Bettina to see anyone half so lovely. She was 
exactly like the Princesses in the Fairy Tales, tall and 
slender, and the most graceful person in the whole 
world. Her hair was quite golden and waved in the 
loveliest way from a parting in the middle. Her com- 
plexion was pink and white and made you think of 
snowdrops. Her features were quite perfect and her 
smile altogether enchanting. 

And her eyes! 

“ Never,” the people of Berlin had said years before, 
“ never have we seen such eyes, never.” 

They were blue, and deep in colour, and they seemed 
to speak right to the heart and say things no one can 
write of. They were wonderful eyes, the most wonderful 
then in Europe, and that is all there is about it. 

Though she looked worried and anxious, the moment 
she saw other faces than those of the soldiers, she smiled 
first at one, then at the other. 

About her lovely throat was a light tissue scarf, and 
a breeze, seizing it, blew its end sharply into the very 
face of the dignified, bright-eyed old lady. 

“ Pardon me, oh, pardon me, dear Voss,” called out a 
voice so sweet that Bettina and the wood gatherers 
thought they had never heard anything like it. It 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 57 

thrilled them like gentle music. Then she swept away 
the scarf and patted the old lady’s shoulder. 

Her foot was on the carriage step, when, for the 
first time, she saw little Bettina. Her lovely face sud- 
denly lighted with a smile like a mother’s. 

“ Voss, Voss,” she said, 66 see that dear child. Do 
look at her.” 

Then she stepped from the carriage and turned to 
Bettina. 

“ God bless you, little one,” she began, but a roar of 
cannon, loud and thundering, came like a voice warning 
her to hasten. With a wave of her hand she entered the 
carriage. From its window, when all were ready, she 
thrust forth her lovely head. 

“ God bless you all, good people ! ” called her voice of 
sweetness. Her face now looked sad and very anxious. 
“ Pray for me, dear people, pray for my King and your 
good Duke who is helping him, pray the dear God that 
He will give us the victory.” 

Then she drew in her head ; bang went the door ; the 
officer gave an order; the postilions sounded; and away 
dashed the carriage, the splashing mud and the roar 
of cannon behind it. 

The women crowded around Hans. 

His face was radiant. 

“Who was it?” he cried. Then he spoke with great 


38 TWO ROYAL FOES 

triumph. “ Who better than Hans Lange can tell you ? 
I saw her ride into Berlin in a golden coach to marry 
her husband. Women,” his voice quivered, “the lady 
with the golden hair and the blue eyes is the 6 Angel of 
Prussia.’ Yesterday, in Jena, I heard how the Emperor 
of the French hates her and has vowed, if he can, to 
capture her. It is from him, doubtless, that she is fly- 
ing.” 

The old lady, he told the excited wood gatherers, 
was the Countess Marie Sophie von Voss, Mistress of 
Ceremonies in the Prussian Court, and like a mother to 
Her Majesty. 

“Oh, grandfather, oh, grandfather!” Bettina, in 
spite of the Emperor, in spite of her father and the 
cannon, for the moment was again quite happy. She 
had seen the Queen of Prussia, the most beautiful 
lady in all Europe, and she had said, “ God bless 
you.” 

But her grandfather, listening to the cannon, turned 
to the wood gatherers who were standing and discuss- 
ing the Queen. 

“ Go home, women,” he said in a tone of command, 
“ go home at once and see that your children are in 
safety. We may win.” He threw out his hands. “ We 
may not.” He shrugged his shoulders. “ Either way, 
you are better off the highroad.” 


THE ANGEL OF PRUSSIA 39 

Then he turned to the pink-cheeked young woman. 

44 Minna,” he said, 44 take Bettina, here, home to Frau 
Weyland. Ja, ja, go, child; mother will be anxious. 
Go, now, and you can tell her how the Queen spoke to 
you. And, Minna, tell Frau Weyland to go at once 
to her father-in-law’s with the children. She can lock 
the house, tell her, and leave the dogs unchained. Herr 
Weyland can go up, or send Fritz, for the night. I am 
going, myself, now, to Jena. Tell her, Bettina, to go 
at once. No one knows when the soldiers will be every- 
where.” 

44 Ja wohl,” and Minna took the hand of Bettina. 

Her grandfather turned towards the roar of the can- 
non. 

44 Auf wiedersehen,” he said, and off he marched like 
a soldier. 

As for Bettina, she trotted along with the wood gath- 
erers, her fright all gone. 

Now that she had seen the lovely Queen and knew 
that the Emperor had vowed to capture her, she could 
almost see the old Kaiser Barbarossa rising from his 
sleep. His sword was flashing, his eyes were like fire, 
and she knew that he would kill the monster, Napoleon, 
and save the lovely Louisa. 

44 Do you think,” asked Minna, suddenly, 44 that the 
Queen will escape? ” 


40 TWO ROYAL FOES 

The women looked gloomy and shrugged their shoul- 
ders. 

“ The Emperor does what he wills,” said black-eyed 
Emma. 

“ Ja wohl,” agreed Magdalena. Then she shook her 
head wisely. “ I say this, women, poor as we are to-day, 
it is better to be wood gatherers of Thuringia than the 
Queen of Prussia.” 

“ Ja wohl,” they all said, “ much better.” 


CHAPTER III 


AT JENA 

When old Hans left Bettina and the women he followed 
the highway until he came to a path leading to a red- 
roofed farm house belonging to his cousin. 

Seeing Herr Schmelze standing in the doorway, the 
old man went in. 

“ Good-day,” called the cousin. “ Himmel, Hans, but 
the firing is awful!” 

Certainly the roar, always steady and loud, seemed 
to increase to a noise like thunder. Towards Jena they 
saw a cloud of blue smoke rising always thicker and 
higher. The air, usually so fresh with the breath of 
the pines, choked their throats with its taste of pow- 
der. The din was awful, shrieks, shots, and the cannon 
roar uniting. Before Hans could even answer, the fly- 
ing feet of the first fugitives were heard on the road, 
men and frightened women, furniture on their backs, 
children in their arms, hands holding what they could; 
on they came as if fiends were at their heels, a great 
horror pursuing them. 

The cousin’s wife, seeing Hans, came out to greet 


42 TWO ROYAL FOES 

him. Her fingers were held fast to her ears and she kept 

crying on God to help them. 

“ Be quiet, Lotte,” commanded her husband, “ and 
bring Hans some breakfast.” 

She ran back into the house, and Herr Schmelze led 
the way to a rustic table beneath an elm. 

“ It is cold,” said he, shivering at the dampness, “ but 
out here it is better, is it not? We can see all that is 
happening.” 

Frau Schmelze returned with black bread, sausage, 
hard-boiled eggs, and beer. 

Arranging them on the table, she bowed her head 
most piously. 

“ Bless the mealtime,” she said, jumping an “ Amen ” 
as the cannon thundered a sudden volley. 

“ Mealtime,” answered the men, German fashion, and 
fell to eating. 

“ Eat while you can, friends,” and Frau Schmelze 
smoothed her clean black apron over her short skirt of 
blue. “ The soldiers will soon get everything.” 

Germans seem always able to eat, so, though the can- 
non roared and the fugitives passed by dozens in the 
road, Hans and the cousin partook of the meal in large 
mouthfuls, exchanging news as they drank their 
beer. 

“ I came from Weimar to-day,” said Herr Schmelze, 


AT JENA 43 

in his slow, deliberate way. “ The Queen of Prussia has 
been with our Duchess, but this morning she left.” 

“ I saw her on the road,” said Hans, and told of the 
adventure at the inn. “ And I saw Napoleon,” he added, 
and while he related again the story, the roaring grew 
fiercer and fiercer. Suddenly Frau Schmelze ran from 
the house. 

66 Ach Gott ! Ach Gott ! Ach Gott ! ” she screamed. 
“ Conrad, Hans, look ! look ! ” 

And she pointed to the highroad. 

Flying, galloping, running as if demons were at their 
heels, they saw soldiers on foot, soldiers on horseback, 
hussars, dragoons, heard pistols exploding, saw swords 
flashing, heard voices screaming madly. It was hor- 
rible. 

A quick shot sounded. A soldier fell like a stone at 
the gate. 

Hans and Conrad reached him as if by magic. 

“ Dead,” said the cousin, as they drew the body to 
the grass. “ And a Prussian.” 

There was a stream of blood in the road, men were 
falling, riding over each other, dropping to death 
everywhere. On they came, faster and more furious. 

“ Save us ! Save us from Napoleon ! ” 

Hans flung open the gate, and in rushed two wild- 
eyed women caught in their flight by the hussars, who 


44 TWO ROYAL FOES 

seeing them out of their way, rushed on after higher 

game. 

“ Yiye PEmpereur ! Vive PEmpereur ! ” The cry rose 
even above the cannon roar. Hans and Conrad looked 
each other in the eyes. 

“ The Prussians, cousin,” began Hans. 

“ Were first,” said Herr Schmelze. 

The shoulders of the brave old soldier of Frederick 
the Great drooped with shame, the fat old farmer col- 
oured. 

It was the first time Hans had seen a Prussian sol- 
dier turn his back on an enemy, and a tear stole down 
his cheek. 

66 Come,” said Herr Schmelze, “ let us go to the height 
and look down on the battle. Ulrich,” he called to his 
son, as he passed the house, “ stay here and take care of 
your mother.” 

Then he led the way to a spot from where they could 
see the battle. The sight was one never to be forgotten, 
and as the hours passed the hearts of the two Germans 
grew sick within them. They saw the Duke of Brunswick 
borne from the field of dead and wounded, and then began 
a panic worse than all else we can read of in history. 
Over the field flew the Prussians, whole companies tak- 
ing flight as if children. Horses, freed from their riders, 
dashed where they would, galloping over the dead, 


45 


AT JENA 

crushing with their hoofs the dying; swords flashed 
against sabres; men fled as if mad; gunners deserted 
cannon ; and still, through all the havoc and confusion, 
steadily, unswervingly, the cannon of Napoleon roared 
on. Towards late afternoon the Prussians were turning 
their backs in all directions, crossing each other’s paths, 
blockading, hampering, as they struggled to escape to 
Erfurt, to Kolleda, to Sommerda. 

The sun dropped in the west, and, as the afterglow 
rose like a mist of gold, the light fell on a field of such 
horror as blood-stained old Europe rarely has seen. The 
cries of the wounded, the dying, the pursued, and the 
victorious rent the air, and the Prussians who remained 
were in a confusion most awful. Only the soldiers of the 
Duke of Weimar fought with steadiness, and, presently, 
they began to retreat in order towards Erfurt. 

The glorious army of Frederick the Great had dis- 
appeared like a bubble. Napoleon had but touched it 
with his finger of might and its many-coloured glory 
had vanished into nothing. 

For hours, old Hans and his cousin watched the fight, 
and lower and lower sank the head of the old man. 
That he, a soldier of Frederick the Great, should see 
the downfall of the army! 

“ Ach Gott ! Ach Gott ! Ach Gott ! ” he said to the 


cousin. 


46 TWO ROYAL FOES 

But Herr Schmelze caught his arm, his face suddenly 
glowing with excitement. 

“Look, cousin, look!” he cried and with a fat hand 
he pointed towards the field. “ Look, I say, look, Hans ! 
What courage! That Prussian is only a boy, and there 
are four, no, five, six, seven Frenchmen in pursuit. See 
him run! Bravo! Ach Himmel! Hans, at last, some 
courage ! 99 

What Hans saw was a Prussian, slender, alert, quite 
boy-like in figure, fly before pursuing Frenchmen. To 
save himself he darted sideways, then rushed between 
two wagons close together and deserted by the Prus- 
sians. 

Sheltered, he fired. 

A Frenchman dropped. 

He dodged the answer and fired again. 

“ Yive l’Empereur ! ” called the hussars, responding, 
but the boy, turning suddenly, leaped the wagon to the 
left; then, as the Frenchmen started to follow, he turned 
on his heel, dived behind the rear of his barricade and, 
turning, fled, gaining time as he ran. 

“ Bravo ! Bravo ! ” called the cousin, and Hans 
brightened at even this slight show of Prussian courage. 
With shots pursuing, unharmed, the boy fled on, the 
French behind, until dusk wrapped in its dimness both 
pursued and pursuers. 


AT JENA 


47 


Hans and Herr Schmelze strained their eyes to see 
the end of the unequal combat, but the battlefield and 
flying soldiers faded alike in the gloom. 

44 1 must go home,” said Herr Schmelze, suddenly re- 
membering his Lotte, 44 and you, Hans ? ” 

44 I’m off to Jena.” 

The cousin eyed him curiously. 

44 Hans,” he said, 44 is it wise to leave Annchen alone 
with the children? The house is lonely and will be in 
the path of the soldiers, if they should break through 
the forest.” 

The old man’s mind was full only of the battle. 

44 Nein, nein, Conrad,” he said. 44 I sent Anna a mes- 
sage by Minna Schneiderwint. She was to take the chil- 
dren and go at once to her husband’s father. She is 
there now, that is certain.” 

The cousin looked less anxious. He was easy going 
and usually minded his own affairs. 

“ So, so,” he said, 44 then she will certainly be safe. 
You are sure she obeyed? Otherwise ” 

Hans nodded with conviction. 

44 Of course she obeyed; why not? I told Minna to 
command her.” 

44 Very well, then,” and Herr Schmelze started home. 
44 Auf wiedersehen, Hans, and you might bring us the 
news as you come back from Jena.” 


48 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


66 Ja wohl,” and the old soldier of Frederick the Great 
strode away in the gloaming. 

Jena was a scene of horror. It streets were noisy with 
the yells of drunken soldiers ; screaming women were 
rushing in or out of houses ; in the streets lay the dead 
and dying, and, above the noise, steady, never stopping, 
roared on the cannon of Napoleon. 

About ten at night a sound of drums silenced the 
screams. With triumphant flags and victorious music, 
in rode Napoleon, erect on his white horse as ever. 

“ The scoundrel, the upstart ! ” said a voice near 
Hans. 

The speaker wore the dress of a professor of the Uni- 
versity of Jena, and he stiffened his head as the con- 
queror approached. “ I will not bow to him,” he mut- 
tered, “ I will not.” 

But Napoleon suddenly gazing at him, the professor 
hesitated, then, a strange look on his face, bowed as if 
in spite of himself. 

“ It is Professor Hegel, the philosopher,” said a man 
near Hans. “ He has been writing here in Jena and did 
not even hear the cannon. A moment ago the postmas- 
ter told him the news and he is like one broken-hearted.” 

But Hans had not time for gossip. Jena men whom he 
knew were on the road to the field to bring in the 
wounded and they hailed him. 


AT JENA 49 

“Well met, Hans,” they cried. “Come! We need 
men. Come, and help us.” 

“Ja wohl,” and Hans turned and joined them. “I 
am too old to fight, alas, comrades,” he grieved, “ but 
God be thanked, I can do this for the army.” And he 
marched off with the group. 

Why not? 

Annchen and the children were quite safe with Kas- 
per’s father. Anna knew his ways and would not worry. 
It had been different when he had had Bettina. Her con- 
cern had been for the child and not for an old soldier 
such as he was. Why not, then? 

And so he followed to the field where the horses still 
were racing, the Prussian soldiers fleeing, the thieves 
prowling to rob the dead and the dying, and where, 
above the havoc, still roared without ceasing the cannon 
of Napoleon. 

Towards Weimar the sky was crimson, tongues of 
flame darting up and suddenly lighting the heavens. 

There was but one cry : “ Vive 1’Empereur ! Vive Na- 
poleon ! ” and, as Hans, with the gentleness of a woman, 
lifted man after man from the ground, he knew that 
the soldiers of Frederick had had their good-morning, 
and the country of that famous old soldier lay conquered 
in the dust. 


CHAPTER IV 


AT THE FOREST HOUSE 

Hans worked hard all night and into the next morning, 
and then, feeling the need of food and finding none in 
overcrowded Jena, with an 44 Auf wiedersehen ” to his 
comrades, he departed for the farmhouse. 

Frau Schmelze stood in the doorway. 

44 Morning, Hans ! ” she called. 46 Come in, come in, 
here is coffee ! ” 

Bustling about, she prepared him a meal in the living 
room. 

On the sofa lay a man in Prussian uniform. 

44 He staggered in last night,” she explained. 44 His 
hand was cut and bleeding. I bound it up for him and he 
fell asleep there, though, goodness knows, it was dan- 
gerous enough with the French tearing by every mo- 
ment! ” She poured out coffee. 44 Ach Himmel, Hans ! ” 
she cried, 44 but war is dreadful ! All night the cannon 
and the screaming.” 

Then suddenly she turned on him, glancing at his 
tumbled hair and face stained and dirty. 

44 Hans,” she said , 44 have you been all night in Jena? ” 

The old man nodded. 

Frau Schmelze frowned in disapproval. 

4Q 


AT THE FOREST HOUSE 


51 


“ Cousin,” she said, “ are you sure about Annchen? 
All night there were soldiers that way. It would be 
dreadful if she were alone with the little ones, nicht 
wahr? We thought you were there.” 

“Alone?” Hans put down his coffee cup in sur- 
prise. “ I sent her word to go to her father-in-law’s.” 

The truth was, he had forgotten everything but the 
battle. 

“Why should she, cousin, have stayed on in the 
Forest House? ” 

Frau Schmelze was silent ; it was not her business to 
remind Hans Lange that he had a daughter exactly like 
him. 

“ So,” she answered after a moment, “ so. Perhaps 
you know best, but ” 

Then she went to the soldier whom the talking had 
awakened. In her hand was a cup of the good, steaming 
hot coffee. 

“ Ah,” said the man, “ a thousand thanks ! ” and he 
drained the cup, smacking his thin lips as he finished. 

“ It makes a man over.” And rising stiffly he tottered 
to the table and sank in a chair beside Hans. “ You 
have news of the battle, my friend?” 

Hans nodded. 

“ Napoleon is in Jena,” he answered shortly. 

“ And the army ? ” 


52 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


Hans snapped his fingers. 

“ Gone like a bubble,” he said. Then he told of the 
night and the flying of the soldiers, of the crossing and 
recrossing of lines, of the racing of the riderless horses, 
and the entrance of Napoleon into Jena. 

The soldier’s head sank low; he left his second cup of 
coffee untasted. 

“No one can stand against the French Emperor,” he 
said. 

“ Ach, nein,” agreed Frau Schmelze. 

“ Perhaps the English,” volunteered Hans, cutting 
huge mouthfuls of bread and grey sausage. 

The Prussian flushed and his lip curled. 

“ The good God helping me,” he said, “ here is one 
Prussian who will never give up his fighting until they 
sign peace, or death steps in.” 

“ Bravo ! ” cried Herr Schmelze, coming in at the 
door. “ If there were more who felt that way, Jena 
this morning would not be Napoleon’s. The Fatherland 
is full of indifference, nicht wahr? ” 

“ The Germans are asleep,” said the soldier, “ the 
whole nation is dreaming.” 

Herr Schmelze smiled drily. 

“ There was something loud enough to wake them, 
yesterday, nicht wahr? ” And he looked at the other two 
and laughed sarcastically. 


53 


AT THE FOREST HOUSE 

As for Hans, he moved uneasily. 

“ That a man must grow too old to fight,” he said. 
Then he offered to show the soldier the way towards 
Erfurt, where the remainder of the army was gather- 
ing. 

Frau Schmelze put down her work and whispered in 
the ear of her husband. He nodded. 

“ Hans,” he said, “ you had better go to the Forest 
House. Annchen ” 

“ Ja wohl, Otto.” The old man rose resolutely. “ We 
go that way, you know, and when I show our friend here 
the way, I’ll go down and take the news to old Wey- 
land.” 

Then off he started with the soldier, plunging into 
talk of the King of Prussia and Napoleon. 

Frau Schmelze shook her head. 

“ I hope, Otto,” she said, “ that nothing has hap- 
pened. 

The farmer looked serious. 

“ I thought, of course, Hans had gone home, or I 
should have sent Ulrich.” 

“ Hans ? ” A look expressed Frau Schmelze’s opinion 
of Frederick the Great’s old soldier, and she returned to 
her labours. 

“A good man is our King, there is no better,” the 
soldier meanwhile was saying. “ He and our good Angel, 


54 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


the Queen, have the love of all their people. He is up- 
right, and saving, and truly religious, but, ach Him- 
mel, if he were only not so uncertain! Nobody, not even 
Stein, steady himself as a rock, can make him know what 
he wants to do and at once to do it. 4 To-morrow,’ he 
says, 4 let us wait.’ It is always so, nicht? Now, take 
this war. He delayed and delayed, letting Napoleon in- 
sult him over and over. The army grew feeble from 
want of exercise, and our generals too old for service. 
Bliicher is the only one worth counting. Then, too,” he 
continued, 44 Frederick William the Second is unlucky. 
Look at his wretched boyhood. He was born unlucky. 
And now he has made a mistake about this war, nicht 
wahr? For eight years when our neighbours needed us 
he wouldn’t fight, and now when we are at it ourselves 
there is no one to help us.” 

44 The Russians,” put in Hans, 44 the Czar Alexander 
is our ally. Did you not hear now he and our King — I 
am a Prussian, you know — swore an oath of friendship 
at midnight at the tomb of Frederick the Great, the 
Queen being witness ? ” 

The soldier nodded. 

44 Ja, ja,” he said, 44 if Russia will help,” he spread 
out his hand, 44 that will be entirely another affair. But 
who knows? That little Emperor of the French may 
twist any number of Czars round his finger, but 


AT THE FOREST HOUSE 55 

hark!” He listened eagerly. “What was that? A 
child? ” 

There was a sound as of a baby wailing wretchedly. 
Hans looked uneasy. Could it be that his Anna — but, 
no — he had sent her word, and certainly she had obeyed 
him. It was only some peasant with her baby. Pres- 
ently they left the wood and before them stood the little 
grey Forest House with its red roof and garden. 

Hans started and called out an exclamation. Pine 
needles were scattered everywhere as if feet, running, 
had disturbed the forest carpet. The garden gate stood 
open. A rosebush, broken, had fallen across the path. 
On the path, too, were dark drops which made both men 
shudder. The chickens, not yet freed from their night 
quarters, clucked impatiently, unmilked cows bellowed in 
pain, and Schneider and Schnip, the dogs, howled long 
and mournfully. And yet, in spite of the noise, the place 
seemed wrapped in a quiet most horrible. 

“ Mein Gott ! ” The soldier looked at Hans, who, gaz- 
ing steadily before him, pushed open the unlatched door 
of the hall. 

A cold little nose touched his hand as he entered. It 
was “ Little Brother,” Bettina’s pet fawn, whose eyes 
seemed to speak most mournfully. 

The hall was that of a Forest House, its walls orna- 
mented with antlers of deer, guns and sticks on the racks, 


56 TWO ROYAL FOES 

and, in the corner against one wall, a highly carved oak 
press, and, opposite, Frau Wey land’s spinning wheel. 
But Hans and the soldier took no note of furniture, 
for a stream, a dark stream, was flowing from one door 
to the other, its source being the living room. 

“ Gott im Himmel ! ” cried the soldier. “ It is blood !” 
Then he pushed open the door, Hans and the little fawn 
following. 

There was the room as Hans knew it, with its sofa, 
its square table, its geraniums in the windows, its tall 
white porcelain stove, and its one picture of the Herr 
Jesus blessing the children. 

A candle, smoking dismally about the socket, filled 
the room with a horrid odour. On the table stood the re- 
mains of supper, half eaten. But the two men looked at 
none of these things, nor took note of the little quiv- 
ering fawn, whose eyes seemed to long to explain the 
whole story. 

It was at the floor both gazed in horror. 

“ May the good God have pity,” said the soldier 
softly. 

Before them lay three bodies, the first in the uniform 
of a French soldier, the second, the young Prussian 
officer Hans had seen flying, and the third 

Hans fell on his knees and took his daughter’s golden 
head in his arms. 


AT THE FOREST HOUSE 57 

44 Annchen ! ” he cried, 44 Annchen ! Speak to me, my 
Annchen ! 99 

But Frau Weyland was never again to laugh at his 
forgetfulness, never again to smile her 64 Ja, ja, dear 
father ! 99 never to tease him about his battles. 

The story was easy to read; the position of the 
bodies told it. The Prussian had fled to the Forest 
House for refuge, the Frenchman had fired from the 
doorway, Frau Weyland, hastily rising, had received 
one bullet. 

As for the Frenchman, a sword thrust had finished 
him. Doubtless he had received it in the battle and he 
had bled while running. At all events, it was a loss of 
blood which had killed him. 

Old Hans was almost crazy. With his daughter’s 
head on his knees, he kept begging God to forgive 
him. 

44 She was all I had,” he told the soldier, 44 and I 
thought she was with her husband’s father. Herr Jesus, 
forgive me, forgive me.” 

Then, presently, as is the habit of certain people, he 
found comfort in blaming someone else. He flew into 
a wild fury against Napoleon ; he cursed him ; he cried 
out vengeance against him, and he swore that as long 
as he had a drop of blood in his veins he would struggle 
to overthrow him. The soldier paid no heed. With his 


58 TWO ROYAL FOES 

unhurt hand he had been feeling the heart of the young 

Prussian. 

“ Get water, old man,” he interrupted. “ Quick ! 
Quick ! The Herr Lieutenant still lives ! ” 

Hans, laying down the head of his daughter, drew 
from his pocket a flask. 

“It is brandy,” he said. “They gave it to me for 
the wounded in Jena.” 

The soldier poured some drops down the officer’s 
throat. He ordered Hans to fling open doors and win- 
dows and they made the poor fellow more comfortable. 

Then they covered the dead with sheets from the sleep- 
ing room beds. 

“ Ach Himmel ! ” cried Hans suddenly. “ The chil- 
dren ! ” 

He ran into the garden. Above the noise of the ani- 
mals sounded the distant wail of a babe. Following the 
sound, Hans came upon Bettina, little Hans, and baby 
August. 

They had hidden in the forest, Bettina holding the 
baby wrapped in her mother’s shawl. 

“ Grandfather, oh, grandfather,” and she burst into 
sobs, “ he cries so, I can’t stop him.” 

“ Mother, I want mother ! ” screamed little Hans, 
while the baby’s wails were incessant. 

Bearing August in his arms, Hans and Bettina at 


AT THE FOREST HOUSE 59 

his side, the old man appeared again in the kitchen of 
the farmhouse. 

“ Gott im Himmel ! 99 cried Frau Schmelze, wringing 
her hands and weeping. “I knew it! I knew it! You 
need not tell me. Conrad, husband! Ulrich! Come! 
Quick ! It is Anna ! Our dear, dear Anna ! ” 

As for Hans, he went on like a madman, railing at 
Napoleon and blaming the French. Only Bettina could 
quiet him. 

No, he would not stay there with the children. He 
would return to the Forest House where he had left the 
soldier. 

So the farmer went with him, and Ulrich fetched Kas- 
par’s father. 

Hans insisted that he would nurse the wounded Prus- 
sian. 

“ Let him alone,” said the soldier, who announced 
that he must march on towards Erfurt. “ It will take 
his mind off his trouble.” 

<{ The children will stay here for the present,” insisted 
Frau Schmelze when Hans reappeared that evening. 

He nodded. 

“ Ja wohl, Lotte,” he said, and then he railed so at 
Napoleon that she was sure his grief had crazed him. 

She kept her thoughts to herself until that night, 
when she and her husband lay under their featherbeds. 


60 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Then she expressed the opinion she had been suppressing 

all day. 

“ It’s all very well laying everything on Napoleon,” 
she said. “ He is a monster, an upstart, a villain, but 
Hans should have gone home to poor Anna. She should 
have obeyed and gone to Weyland’s, you say? That is 
just like you, Otto, taking up for Hans Lange because 
he is a man, but Anna, poor woman, was not much given 
to obeying her father; you know that, husband, as well 
as I do, nicht? She was Hans all over, doing what she 
pleased and obeying no one.” Then the good woman, 
who truly had loved her cousin, wet her pillow with tears. 

The farmer grieved, also. Why not? He, too, had 
liked Anna, and there were those little children, but he 
was a man and his thoughts were on the battle. He had 
learned at Jena that Napoleon was that evening to enter 
Weimar. Who knew what would happen? 

The Duke was the ally of the King of Prussia, and 
Napoleon was not likely to forget it. 

“ Our poor country,” and he sighed, remembering 
his meadows and how the soldiers had tramped over 
them. 

He was sinking to sleep when Ulrich returned from 
Jena, where he had gone after supper. 

“ Father ! Mother ! ” he called. “ Wake up ! Wake up ! 
There is news of a battle at Auerstadt ! ” 


AT THE FOREST HOUSE 61 

The farmer pulled back the bed curtains and sprang 
from his bed. 

“ A battle at Auerstadt ! Impossible ! ” 

But Ulrich nodded, having hurried until he was quite 
breathless. 

“Ja, ja, father,” he panted, “the whole Prussian 
army is annihilated ! They fought at Auerstadt at 
exactly the same time the battle took place at 
Jena.” 

“ Ach Himmel, Ulrich, I cannot believe it ! ” cried 
the farmer, his face red with excitement. 

66 Ja wohl, father,” Ulrich insisted. “ Davoust led the 
French, the King of Prussia the Germans. They fought 
all day and neither the King nor the Emperor heard 
the cannons of the other.” 

“ There has never been such a thing in the history of 
the world, Ulrich. Two battles at once, here in Thur- 
ingia. Impossible ! ” 

But Ulrich knew what he was talking about. 

“Ja wohl, father,” he said, “I heard it in Jena. 
All the generals are dead or wounded. The King is no 
one knows where. Horses were twice shot from under 
him, and they say he fought like a hero. Napoleon’s 
soldiers are ordered to capture the Queen, and Davoust 
is pursuing towards Erfurt. Down in Jena they say Na- 
poleon will march at once on Berlin.” 


62 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Frau Schmelze’s voice came from between the bed cur- 
tains. 

44 War is terrible,” she said. 44 Ach Gott, but it is 
awful!” 

44 Ja wohl, mother,” agreed Ulrich. 44 All is lost, ev- 
erything, and Napoleon is our master!” Then he told 
how the sky was red toward Weimar and how he had 
heard the Duchess had refused to fly and had taken 
scores of people into the castle. 

Then he lowered his voice, which trembled. 

44 Mother,” he said, 44 1 have bad news for Hans Lange. 
Kaspar was among those who died, to-day, in the hos- 
pital in Jena. They brought him in after Hans had left 
them.” 

And so, behind the white horse of the Emperor, 
Death marched into Thuringia. 

Poor Bettina! 

Napoleon had robbed her of her father and mother, 
and the old Barbarossa still slept on in his cave, the ra- 
vens cawing and circling. 


CHAPTER V 


THE JOURNEY 

The wounded soldier lay unconscious for many days 
in the Forest House. Hans nursed him carefully. He 
took care of Bettina, too, whom he refused to leave with 
Frau Schmelze, and Minna Schneiderwint came to milk 
the cows and do the cooking. Later they must find a new 
home, but the Herr Forester Leo had been glad, for the 
present, for Hans to keep on with Kaspar’s duties. 

Bettina spent much time by the sick officer. 
At first, she had been afraid of him lying there in a 
stupor, but presently she grew used to the quiet and 
liked to sit near his bed while her grandfather was in 
the forest, singing away to her doll and never minding 
the sick man. One day she was putting her dolly to 
sleep with a pretty song her godmother had taught her : 

“Joseph, lieber Joseph mein, 

Hilf mir weig’n mein Kindlein. 

Eia ! ” 

“Joseph, dear Joseph mine. 

Help me rock my little child, 

Eia!” 

she sang. The Germans say that it is the song the Vir- 

63 


64 TWO ROYAL FOES 

gin Mary sang when she rocked the little Jesus in Beth- 
lehem, and so Bettina loved it. 

“ My sister sings that,” said a voice from the bed, a 
weak voice like a child’s. 

Bettina gave a great start and then smiled when she 
saw it was the soldier. 

“ My dolly is named Anna,” she said, and she ran to 
the bed to show him. 

“ God be praised,” said Hans, when he came in and 
found them talking. 

The soldier would hear the news. Hans told him ev- 
erything, but not all at once, for it was not wise for 
him to have too much excitement. 

Jena was lost. So was Auerstadt. Both great bat- 
tles had been fought in one day, neither party hearing 
the cannon of the other. Retreating, the armies had 
crossed each other, and never had Europe seen such tur- 
moil and confusion. As for the Prussian army, it had 
vanished. The young soldier could not believe it. A few 
weeks before he had marched with that brilliant army, 
singing songs, and certain of victory. 

“And the Emperor? ” his face flushed with hatred. 

Then Hans told him how, on the day after Jena, Na- 
poleon had marched into Weimar. 

“ Our good Duchess had remained,” he said, “ all 
the day of Jena, and the next morning she opened her 



“ M y dollie is named Anna ” 


■ 


’Hmm 










' 



























' 















































THE JOURNEY 65 

doors to Weimar families and any English strangers. 
There was nothing to eat, and all Her Highness had 
was a cake of chocolate she found hid beneath a 
cushion. Towards evening of the day of the battles — 
I have been told, sir, it was awful! — the French rushed 
in, pursuing the Prussians. It was terrible. The sol- 
diers slew each other in the streets, the pavements ran 
blood, the French fell on the wine and beer, and, not 
knowing what they did, they set fire to the houses near 
the castle, and the French officers quartered themselves 
on the Duchess. She alone, sir, remained calm. We have 
heard how she waited that second evening at the head 
of the stairs for Napoleon. When he arrived she ad- 
vanced to meet him, greeting him with politeness. 6 Who 
are you ? 5 he cried, like a peasant.” 

“ The upstart ! ” muttered the young lieutenant. 

44 6 1 am the Duchess of Weimar,’ our lady told him,” 
continued Hans, his voice thrilling with pride at Her 
Highness’s bravery. 44 4 1 pity you,’ said Napoleon, 4 for 
I must crush your husband. Where is he ? ’ 4 At his post 
of duty,’ our Duchess, sir, told him. She is a brave lady, 
sir, and it’s a pity, a dreadful pity, that many of our 
soldiers are not like her. Pardon me, sir, but the doings 
of our army have been dreadful.” 

Then he told all the rest he had been told: how 
Count Philip de Segur had come in the dawn to report 


66 TWO ROYAL FOES 

to Napoleon all the events of the night, and when he had 
told him that they had failed in their attempt to cap- 
ture the Queen of Prussia, Napoleon had said: “Ah, 
that would have been well done, for she has caused the 
war.” 

“ That is false,” cried the lieutenant, his face flush- 
ing. “ Our Queen was in Pyrmont for her illness caused 
by the death of little Prince Ferdinand, and it was de- 
cided upon before her return. How dare Napoleon ” 

“ The Emperor of the French dares anything,” and 
Hans shrugged his old shoulders. He had heard, too, 
but he had no idea how true it was, that Napoleon had 
written the Empress Josephine, who was then in Paris, 
that it would have pleased him much had he captured 
Queen Louisa. 

“And why?” asked the soldier, “why should the 
Emperor hate so gentle a lady? ” 

Hans shook his head. 

“One is good, the other is bad. From the beginning 
of things, sir, the pastors tell us in church, there’s been 
war between good and evil, nicht wahr ? ” 

The soldier nodded. 

“I suppose so,” he said. 

Then he heard the rest about the Duchess of Weimar. 

The Emperor of the French could not praise her 
enough. 


THE JOURNEY 67 

Next morning he had breakfasted with her. 44 Ma- 
dame,” he asked, 44 how could your husband be so mad 
as to make war upon me?” 44 My husband,” said the 
Duchess, 46 has been in the service of the King of Prus- 
sia for more than thirty years, and, certainly, it was 
not at the moment when the King had so formidable an 
enemy as your Majesty that the Duke could abandon 
him.” 

The Emperor was so pleased with her brave answer 
that his manner changed at once. His tone became re- 
spectful and he made her a bow. “Madame,” he said, 
44 you are the most sensible woman whom I ever have 
known. You have saved your husband. I pardon him, 
but entirely on your account. As for him, he is a good- 
for-nothing.” 

Then he talked much more with the Duchess, and at 
her request ordered all the disorder to be stopped in 
the town, and everywhere that he went he praised her 
conduct. 

44 And we have one comfort,” Hans told the soldier. 
44 The Duke, our Duke, Herr Lieutenant, alone re- 
mained firm, the Prince of Orange standing with him. 
They, sir, made an orderly retreat to Erfurt, but,” he 
shrugged his broad shoulders, 44 their bravery counted 
as nothing.” 

Hans was a different man since the death of his 


68 TWO ROYAL FOES 

daughter. He had but one thought, and that was ha- 
tred of the French and of Napoleon. When he walked 
now, his head hung low. He had no longer cheery words 
for the people he met with, but a gruff good-day and 
then no more speaking. 

Only to the soldier was he talkative. There was some- 
thing about the pleasant-faced lieutenant which brought 
back the old Hans; each day the young fellow grew 
dearer. Still, even he felt that Hans had his secrets. 
He came and went in strange ways, and often after 
nightfall. 

One morning, when the frost was white on the grass 
and the leaves of the low shrubs were touched with sil- 
ver, the old man started out as usual. There were still 
French at Jena, though Napoleon with the army had 
marched away towards Berlin. Bettina was with the sol- 
dier, who was up now, and hoped soon to try and join 
the army. 

He and the little girl were great friends. He had 
told her how that he had three sisters, the oldest, very 
pretty and named Marianne, and the other two, Ilse 
and Elsa, were twins, round, jolly and so alike there 
was no telling them apart unless they spoke, when you 
knew Ilse because of the shape of one tooth. He had 
three brothers, Wolfgang, Otto, and little Carl. 

“ And our home, dear little Bettina, is called the 


THE JOURNEY 69 

Stork’s Nest,” he told her, 66 because my father is Pro- 
fessor von Stork, and the real stork has brought my 
mother so many babies.” 

Bettina was delighted at this and asked many ques- 
tions about Marianne, who was so pretty, and read so 
many books, and Ilse and Elsa, who were always in 
mischief, fooling everybody about which was which and 
trying to do everything that their brothers did. 

But the one of this family in whom Bettina took the 
most interest was little Carl, who had such red cheeks, 
almost white hair, and blue eyes like saucers. 

The reason of this was a story the soldier told her. 

One day, he said, his mother was taking her nap 
after dinner. Before she shut her door she told little 
Carl, who then was six, to go and stay with his big 
sister, Marianne. But Marianne was reading a famous 
book by the great poet, Goethe, called “ The Sorrows 
of Werther,” and she told Carl to run away and let 
her alone. 

He did run away, and so far that not a soul could 
find him. 

All the home was in the wildest confusion, Madame 
von Stork wringing her hands, scolding Marianne, 
and telling her that it was all her fault, because she 
would read books, write letters and poems ; Made- 
moiselle Pauline, a young French girl who lived with 


‘TO TWO ROYAL FOES 

them, searching everywhere and assuring his mother 
that Marianne was perfectly useless since she had been 
to Frankfort-on-Main, formed a friendship with Bet- 
tina Brentano and taken to adoring Goethe; the boys 
racing everywhere ; and the good, calm father trying to 
quiet everybody. 

At last Ilse and Elsa had screamed that Carl was 
coming, and in he walked with the prettiest story you 
can think of. 

He had run away to the Thiergarten, a great, fine 
park in Berlin, and there had found some boys who had 
asked him to play horse. 

One had reins and quickly harnessed Carl for his 
steed. 

Then off he had pranced, up and down the avenues, 
until, with a snap, pop had gone the reins. 

“ A run-away ! A run-away ! 99 called the boys, as off 
had run Carl. 

Faster came the drivers and faster ran the horse until, 
bump, he landed with his head right into a lady. 

“ You naughty child — you ” began one voice, an 

old one, when a second — it belonged to the lady who had 
been bumped — interrupted : 

“ Please, dear friend, be quiet. Let him alone. Boys 
will be wild,” and she smiled at her companion, a bright- 
eyed old lady with white hair. 


THE JOURNEY 11 

Then she asked Carl his name, told him she had heard 
of his father, and then she patted one round cheek, kissed 
him on the other, and said, “ Run away, little son, and 
carry a beautiful greeting to your parents.” 

“ And who was she ? ” cried Bettina, when the lieu- 
tenant first told her. 

“ Guess,” said the soldier, smiling mischievously. 

Bettina shook her little head. 

“ The Queen,” said the Herr Lieutenant, and then 
roared when he saw how surprised Bettina was. 

She and her friend, the Countess von Yoss, had been 
walking in the park like any other ladies, and Carl had 
run into her. 

Bettina wanted to know everything. 

Was Carl scolded for running off? Was he proud? 
And how had his mother liked it? 

His mother certainly had been much pleased at such 
an honour to Carl, and, as for the little rascal, he 
could talk of nothing else, but most certainly he was 
scolded. 

“ But nothing did him the least good until his sister 
Marianne had told him that Pauline would write a little 
letter in French to Bonaparte, and if he ran away again 
the Emperor would come and get him.” 

Bettina shuddered. She could quite believe that Carl 
never had run away again. 


72 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


44 He is a great boy now,” said the Herr Lieutenant. 
44 This happened two years ago.” 

44 I have seen the Queen, too,” confided Bettina, and 
she told him all about the day at the inn, and about 
Napoleon, and her mother, whom she missed so. Night 
after night she wept herself to sleep under her feather 
bed, poor little Bettina. 

44 Oh, dear Herr Lieutenant,” she said, 44 why did not 
the ravens wake the Kaiser Barbarossa? ” 

44 Perhaps they will some day,” he answered, smil- 
ing. 

44 Do you think, gracious Herr Lieutenant,” she 
asked on the day when Hans had departed so secretly, 
44 that the wicked Emperor will get the dear, lovely 
Queen ? ” 

The soldier shook his head. 

44 No, no, little Bettina, the good God must save her, 
for she is so good and kind to everybody.” 

Then Bettina came quite close to him, her doll in her 
arms. Her little dress was no longer bright red. Frau 
Schmelze and her grandmother had made her one of 
black. 

44 Herr Lieutenant,” she began. 

44 Ja, little Bettina.” 

44 1 saw a raven to-day.” 

The young officer laughed. 


THE JOURNEY 7S 

“ So,” he said, “ so? ” 

“ I think, gracious Herr Lieutenant,” and Bettina 
smiled, u I will run out to the garden, and if I see a raven 
now, I will give him a message to Barbarossa. He did 
not wake for my mother,” her lips quivered, “ but then, 
Herr Lieutenant, there was no time to send him a mes- 
sage. If I see a raven now, I will call out loud and off 
he will fly to the cave of Barbarossa.” 

“ Put some salt on his tail, Bettina,” said the Herr 
Lieutenant, “ then he will sit quite still and listen until 
he knows the message.” 

Bettina trotted off and begged salt of Minna Schnei- 
derwint. Then she ran into the frosty garden to watch 
for the raven. 

At the gate she saw French soldiers. Without a word 
in they marched and came forth again with the Herr 
Lieutenant in the midst of them. 

“ Adieu, dear Bettina, adieu,” he cried. “ I am a pris- 
oner. Tell your grandfather and thank him for his 
goodness.” 

“ Auf wiedersehen,” Bettina flew to him, her face all 
alarm. 

But the soldier shook his head. 

“ Adieu, dear Bettina, adieu, I am not likely again 
to see you or your grandfather.” Then he put his well 
arm about her and kissed her. 


74 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Come, come,” cried the soldiers, and off they marched 
into the forest along the path away from Jena. 

Bettina ran into the house, her little body shaken with 
sobs. 

Everybody she loved the wicked Emperor took away, 
her mother, her father, and now the Herr Lieutenant. 
Oh, if she only had a wand as in the fairy tales, she 
would change him into a great black stone, or some cruel 
animal. 

In came Minna Schneiderwint, wringing her hands 
and sobbing, “ The dear, gracious Herr Lieutenant ! 
What will Herr Lange say when he hears of it? Ach 
Gott! Ach Gott! What a monster is Napoleon!” 

Hans, returning, found Bettina still weeping. 

“ Liebchen,” he said, after he had heard the story, 
“ we, too, are going on a j ourney.” Then he told her 
to say nothing to Minna Schneiderwint, but to help 
make up a bundle to travel with. 

Not a soul, he said, must know a word of their going. 

Bettina did as he told her, though the tears came 
to her eyes when she heard that she was not to say 
good-bye to Hans, or the baby, or her godmother, Frau 
Schmelze, or Wilhelm. 

Her grandfather Weyland she did not mind not see- 
ing, but she would like to kiss her grandmother. 

66 Nein, nein,” said old Hans, “ it is all a great secret.” 


THE JOURNEY 


75 


“ And when shall we come back, dear grandfather ? ” 
Bettina felt, indeed, as if Napoleon was her enemy, for 
now she was to lose everybody but her grandfather. 

44 When the Emperor is conquered,” said old Hans, 
and his brow darkened, 44 we shall come back to Thur- 
ingia.” 

Then he took off Bettina’s dress, and between the lin- 
ing and the material of the waist he placed a letter. 

44 Tell no one,” he said, 44 or I shall punish you.” 

Then, when Minna Schneiderwint had gone home 
in the afternoon, he fed all the animals, locked the door, 
and wrapped the key in paper. 

44 Come, Bettina,” he said, and off they started, the 
old man with his gloomy face, the bundle on his back, 
a stick in his hand, Bettina in her black clothes and 
carrying some sausage and bread for supper. 

On the road they came upon four boys at play. 

44 Walter ! ” Hans called, 44 come here.” 

One left the game and listened. 

44 Take this package for me to Herr Leo,” said Hans, 
44 and can you remember a message ? ” he looked at the 
boy sharply. 

44 Ja, Herr Lange, naturally,” and Walter looked in- 
dignant. He was twelve or thirteen. 

44 Tell him, and all who ask you, that I have gone on 
a journey. Bettina, here, goes with me. We will come 


76 TWO ROYAL FOES 

back when the Emperor is conquered. And, see here, 

Walter ” 

“ Ja, ja, Herr Lange.” 

The old man gave him some money. 

“ Here is your pay. See that you earn it.” 

The boy nodded. 

“And, Walter ” 

“ Ja wohl, Herr Lange.” 

“ I shall not mind if you finish your game before you 
go to the Herr Forester.” 

The boy laughed. 

“ Do you mean it ? ” 

Hans nodded. 

“ Thank you, Herr Lange,” and Walter, pocketing 
the coin, went back to his game. 

“ Auf wiedersehen, Herr Lange, auf wiedersehen, 
Bettina, and pleasant travel.” 

“ Auf wiedersehen,” said Hans. 

“ Auf wiedersehen,” said Bettina. 

Then, breaking away, the little girl ran back, her 
eyes full of tears. 

“ Walter, dear Walter,” she cried, “ please, will you 
not take my love to my little brothers? And, Walter, 
please, will you not ask my dear godmother Schmelze 
in Jena to take a wreath to my dear mother’s grave at 
Christmas? Please, Walter, please?” 


THE JOURNEY 77 

44 Ja wohl, dear Bettina, ja wohl,” and the young boy 
patted her on the shoulder. 

“ And greet Willy Schmidt, and Tante Lottchen 
Schmelze, and, auf wiedersehen, dear Walter, and thank 
you.” 

Then she ran after old Hans, waiting impatiently. 
They started towards Erfurt, but, as soon as they could, 
Hans changed their direction. 

44 Where are we going, dear grandfather? ” asked 
Bettina, surprised. 

The old man hesitated. 

44 Would you like, Liebchen, to see the Queen again? ” 

Bettina’s eyes glowed. 

44 Then say nothing to anybody, and try and keep 
from being tired, and perhaps we may help save the 
Queen from Napoleon.” 

44 And the Herr Lieutenant, dear grandfather?” 

But Hans shook his head, his face saddening. 

44 Nein, nein, dear child,” he said, 44 we will not see 
our soldier,” and he muttered something against Na- 
poleon. 

Poor little Bettina! 

It would be nice to see the lovely Queen, but she knew 
the Herr Lieutenant, and he told her stories. Her lips 
began to quiver. 

The old man, noticing it, held her hand closer in his. 


78 TWO ROYAL FOES 

“ Nein, nein, do not cry, Liebchen,” he said, “ we 
may see the Herr Lieutenant. Who can tell? Soldiers 
are everywhere.” 

Then he taught her a story to tell if any questioned 
them. She had lost her parents and her grandfather was 
taking her to an aunt in Prussia. Their home had been 
burned after Jena and they had nothing to live upon. 
Of her little brothers, or her grandparents Weyland, 
she was to say nothing. 

It was well the old man had been in haste to tell her 
these things, for even that evening they were stopped by 
French soldiers, who searched Hans’s pockets and even 
his clothes, and questioned both him and Bettina. 

“ Nonsense,” said one man when they discovered noth- 
ing, “ this is not the man we want. This one speaks 
true. Look at his eyes. And who burdens himself with 
a child when out on such business ? ” 

The others looked uncertain, one with keen black eyes 
and firm mouth biting his nails while he considered. 

“ The man answers the description.” The first man 
looked dubious. 

“ Use your sense,” said a third man. “ The 
child ” 

All eyes turned on Bettina. 

“You have lost your father and mother?” She felt 
the keen black eyes reading her through and through. 


THE JOURNEY 79 

At the sound of these names and at the thought that 
she would never again see them, her lips quivered and 
her eyes filled. 

The man stopped quickly. 

“ Let them pass,” he said with a shrug. 44 Only a fool 
would choose such a messenger,” and he glanced with 
contempt at Hans, who certainly had answered stu- 
pidly, quite like a peasant, saying he knew no French, 
and begging them to speak in German. 

44 God be praised, child,” he cried, when they were 
safe through the lines, 44 you have saved me. The first 
danger is passed.” And he bent down and kissed her. 

44 Shall we save the Queen, grandfather? ” 

44 Who knows ? ” answered Hans. Then he charged 
her that she must never mention that it was to her they 
were going. He did not tell Bettina that had the letter 
in her dress been found they would have shot him without 
discussion, and so she gazed at him in wonder when, 
44 God be praised ! God be praised ! ” he said over and 
over. 

A wagon was waiting at an inn where presently they 
stopped. It was all very queer and puzzled Bettina, for 
the driver said, 44 The Angel,” and her grandfather said, 
44 God bless her,” and without more words he lifted her 
in and told her to lie down on the straw and go to sleep. 

They drove the whole night and it was morning when 


80 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


her grandfather waked her and gave her some black 
bread and sausage. Then they alighted and trudged all 
day through the forest paths, keeping off the main 
roads, and as they walked Bettina saw the deer in great 
herds coming to the open places to feed on the hay 
which the foresters had tied about the pine trees for 
their dinners, and once she saw great, gleaming, yellow 
eyes in some bushes. 

It was only a huge black cat, but Bettina was sure 
that it was Waterlinde, the mother of all the witches in 
Germany, and who, on Walpurgis night, leads the dance 
on the Brocken Mountain. 

“Wait, grandfather, wait! ” she cried. Then she ran 
back to the cat. 

“Waterlinde! Waterlinde!” she called, “please ride 
on your broomstick and get Napoleon ! ” 

The cat raised its tail, which grew monstrous from 
its anger. 

“ Hiss ! ” it said, “ Hiss ! ” Then fled into the bushes. 

But Bettina was joyful. 

“ It will get the Emperor,” she said. “ It promised. 
Oh, grandfather, how happy I am ! Waterlinde will get 
Napoleon! ” 


CHAPTER VI 
THE DOWNFALL 

Bettina was tired, indeed, when one day before noon 
they drew near a great city on the banks of the Elbe, 
its splendid cathedral rising against the sky, the snow 
falling and melting on its strong walls and fortifi- 
cations. 

When Hans saw the colour of the flags flying over 
this city, he cried out in horror. 

u Gott im Himmel ! ” he exclaimed, “ but the French 
have taken Magdeburg ! ” 

In all Prussia there was no stronger fortress. On it 
had rested the whole hope of the country. 

For a few moments Hans felt quite stunned. Then, 
taking Bettina’s hand, he turned into a path leading to 
a red-roofed farmhouse standing in the fields some dis- 
tance from the walls of Magdeburg. 

All along the way they had heard of defeats and 
misfortunes. Like the houses of cards children build, 
all the strongholds and forts of Prussia had fallen at 
the mere breath of Napoleon. 

But Magdeburg! 


81 


82 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Ach Gott,” Hans cried, “ but I cannot, nien, I 
cannot believe it.” 

As for Bettina, she was so tired that her feet moved 
without her any longer feeling them. 

“Poor child!” cried the farmer’s wife, when Hans 
begged for admission. “Come in! come in!” And she 
refused to answer a question of Hans until she had fed 
Bettina on warm milk and tucked her to rest under a 
huge feather bed. Then, giving Hans a chair, she 
went for her husband. 

He was busy in his barn, hiding all the corn from the 
French in a hole he had dug beneath its floor, and cov- 
ered with fire wood. His wife’s steps startled him, and 
his keen, money-loving face appeared at the door. 

“ It is I, Herman ; Magda,” she called, and then told 
him of Hans and Bettina. 

“ He seems half crazy to me, Herman, the old man. 
I’ve put the child to bed. She’s half dead from walk- 
ing. He says they’ve come from Jena, where the mother 
and father were killed after the battle. It’s an awful 
story. He’s taking the child to an aunt in East 
Prussia.” 

The farmer made no movement to go into the 
kitchen. 

“ He can pay for everything, Herman.” 

His face brightened. 


THE DOWNFALL 83 

“ Ach ja,” he said, 44 but that is different. A moment, 
dear Magda, and I shall be with you.” 

Following her to the kitchen, he seated himself oppo- 
site Hans, pulling a table between them. 

44 Beer, Magda ! ” he commanded, and she set bottle 
and glasses on the table. 

44 Ja wohl, friend,” he said, 44 Magdeburg is Na- 
poleon’s.” 

Then he filled the glasses, and, clinking with Hans, 
proposed the downfall of the Emperor. 

44 Three times, a thousand times over,” said Hans, 
and he begged for the news. 

44 The King’s hope was in Madgeburg? Ja wohl,” 
said the farmer. His voice was loud and he roared in- 
stead of talking. 44 And why not? What fortress in 
Europe is stronger? There were twenty-four thousand 
soldiers here; Kleist was in command, and both the 
King and Queen stopped here in their flight to implore 
the garrison to be true to Prussia. And then,” his face 
darkened, and he paused for a sip of his beer, 44 the 
French Marshal Ney appeared and shot a few projec- 
tiles and the Magdeburgers took to tears and appeared 
before Kleist, begging him to surrender and spare them 
the horrors of a siege.” 

44 The cowards ! ” Hans struck the table with his fist. 

The farmer sipped his beer, quite unexcited. 


84 ? 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“Why fight when one must, in the end, be con- 
quered? ” He set down his glass. “ They gave up the 
keys without a breach in the wall, or a single cannon 
being taken; twelve thousand troops under arms, six 
hundred pieces of cannon, a pontoon complete, im- 
mense magazines of all sorts, and only an equal force 
without the walls,” roared on the farmer. 

“ Cowards ! ” And Hans thumped again. 

“ We are conquered, man,” said the farmer, “ and 
the good God knows this war is expensive.” 

Then he told Hans that he had heard that the King 
of Prussia had written a letter to Napoleon from Son- 
dershausen, where he had fled after the defeat at 
Auerstadt. 

“ And the answer ? ” Hans’ hand, holding his beer 
glass, trembled with eagerness. 

The farmer, shrugging his shoulders, thrust out his 
under lip in a queer way he had. 

“ There has been none that I know of,” he roared. 
Then he refilled their glasses, his eyes gleaming as the 
beer foamed. 

Hans thought that he cared much more for this 
same beer than for his country’s troubles, since he 
drank it with such pleasure while roaring how Napo- 
leon, with a splendid procession, had entered Berlin. 
He had heard that the Berliners sat at their windows 


THE DOWNFALL 85 

weeping. Napoleon had ransacked all the palaces and 
was stealing and sending to Paris all the art treasures 
of the Berliners. Only at Potsdam had he shown rever- 
ence. The Prussians had fled so hastily that they had 
left the cordon of the Black Eagle, the scarf and 
sword of Frederick the Great on the tomb in the gar- 
rison church. 

When Napoleon saw them his eyes fired. 

“ Gentlemen,” and he turned to the officers who ac- 
companied him, “ this is one of the greatest commanders 
of whom history has made mention.” Then he traced 
an “ N ” on the tomb in the dust. 

“ If he were alive now I would not stand here,” he 
said. 

And because of his respect for the great Fred- 
erick he saved Potsdam from all annoyance from the 
war. 

What else had happened the farmer did not know, 
only that the brave Bliicher, with tears streaming down 
his cheeks, had been forced to surrender Liibeck. 

As for the King, the farmer had heard that he had 
gone to Custrin ; but he also had heard that Custrin 
was among the forts which had surrendered. At all 
events, the beer being now at an end, he had no more 
time to talk, but arose to return to his barn. 

Hans asked him to let Bettina remain until in the 


86 TWO ROYAL FOES 

afternoon, when he would return for her. Then off he 

departed also. 

The farmer’s wife touched her head. 

44 Grief has crazed him,” she said to herself. 44 It is 
cruel to drag that child about this country.” 

Bettina ate a nice warm dinner with the farmer and 
his wife, and then was put back to bed again. 

44 A queer little thing,” said the wife to her husband. 
44 Poor little lamb ! ” The tears filled her eyes. 44 She 
thinks old Frederick Barbarossa will come from his cave 
to save us ! ” 

The farmer laughed and told his wife what to charge 
Hans, for he might not see him again. 

It was in the late afternoon when the old man re- 
turned. 

44 We must be off at once,” he announced. 

The farmer’s wife protested. 

44 The little one,” and she set her lips hard, 44 is too 
tired.” 

But Hans was positive. 

44 We must go, my good woman, and at once,” he 
announced again, and most positively. 

Poor little Bettina did not want to go. The farmer’s 
wife had been as kind to her as her mother; but her 
grandfather took no notice. 

44 Come, Liebling,” he said, 44 say good-bye and thank 


THE DOWNFALL 87 

the good Frau, and quickly, for we must be start- 
ing.” 

“ Auf wiedersehen,” said Bettina shyly. She hoped 
that some time she might see this good Frau Magda 
again. 

Then Hans paid the bill, and off they went and 
trudged on their way until, late that evening, they 
came to an inn, where Hans announced they would re- 
main until morning. 

Bettina went to bed, but Hans returned to the big 
room where the men sat, and presently, just as Bettina 
was dreaming a fine dream about Willy Schmidt and 
her brothers in Thuringia, he returned with great news 
and awoke her. 

The Emperor, he announced, had offered terms of 
peace to Prussia. All the troops, not wounded or pris- 
oners, must be drawn up in northeast Prussia; the 
great cities of the kingdom, including Dantzic and 
Breslau, must be surrendered; all the Russians march- 
ing to the aid of Prussia must be sent back, and the 
King of Prussia must join with Napoleon in war on his 
friend, Alexander of Russia, should Napoleon com- 
mand it. 

“ I am beaten,” answered the poor, good King ; “ my 
kingdom is taken from me, but never will I save myself 
by fighting against a friend. Let the war go on.” 


88 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


Hans’ face glowed as he told Bettina this answer. 

The little girl was happy to see her grandfather 
smiling again, but she was too sleepy to understand 
what he was talking about, and so, when his voice 
ceased, she went back to her dreams and the old man 
poured over maps until midnight. 

Next day they marched on, keeping out of the way 
of the army, eating at the farmhouses and hiding often 
in the forests. Soldiers sometimes stopped them. More 
than once they searched Hans, but when they ques- 
tioned Bettina and saw the tears which always came 
when she heard of Jena they let them pass on. 

Once Hans persuaded the driver of a carriage to take 
them a part of their journey. The carriage belonged 
to a great person and the man had a passport, and 
Hans and Bettina could pass as servants. 

“ For the sake of the child, ja,” said the driver. But 
it may have been for the sake of Hans’ gold, which he 
readily gave him. It was queer that a wild-looking old 
man, wandering about the country, had gold, but in 
war times people do not ask too many questions. 

It was when in this carriage that Bettina was sure 
she saw again the Herr Lieutenant. 

It was at a place where the driver showed his papers. 

At the window of a house surrounded by soldiers a 
man was gazing gloomily from the window. 


THE DOWNFALL 89 

Behind him were other faces, and one, Bettina de- 
clared, was that of her dear Herr Lieutenant. 

“ And he knew me, dear grandfather; I know that he 
did, only he could not dream that his Bettina was here in 
Prussia, could he? ” 

“ Indeed, no,” said her grandfather, and then went 
to sleep. It was not often that he had such a soft bed 
as the carriage cushions, and he meant to make the 
most of it. And so they came to Custrin. 

44 Now,” said Hans, his face full of joy, 44 we shall 
see the King ! ” 

But, alas! 

Certainly, the King had been there; the Queen, also. 

An old peasant woman outside the walls, whom Hans 
questioned, knew all about it. 

The King had come first and gone straight to a 
house in the Market. 

44 It is a sad event that brings me here,” he had said. 
And then, later, had come the Queen. 44 They were here 
some time,” said the old woman. 44 Her Majesty, 
wrapped in a travelling cloak, used to walk on the 
walls and try to put some courage into the soldiers. 
Foolish work,” she added ; 44 you might as well try to 
fill broken bottles ; all she put in their hearts went out 
at their heels, and Custrin surrendered without 
fighting.” 


90 TWO ROYAL FOES 

The King and Queen, she said, were at Graudenz, on 
the Vistula. 

“ We will follow,” announced Hans. 

Poor little Bettina! Would the journey never end? 

Her grandfather set out at once. Travel now had 
become very dangerous. The French were everywhere, 
and often they must answer questions. They heard how 
Napoleon had stolen and sent to Paris the splendid 
statue of “ Victory,” the pride of Berlin ; how he had 
read all the Queen’s letters to the King, which he had 
found in the palace, and of awful things he had written 
of Her Majesty. 

“ He seems to hate her, poor lady,” said Hans ; “ but 
why, no one can say.” 

At Graudenz there were the French also. The King 
and the Queen and the court had been there, certainly, 
but one day in had rushed citizens, crying “ The French ! 
the French ! ” And pell-mell over the bridge had come 
Prussians, pursued by French cavalry. 

Bang! Up went the bridge, blown to atoms by the 
citizens. But the French were not to be stopped; 
and on had fled the King, Queen, and the Court of 
Prussia. 

So Bettina and her grandfather trudged on to Mar- 
ienwerder. 

Never had they seen a place so muddy and dirty. 


THE DOWNFALL 91 

The King and Queen had stayed there ten days. The 
landlord showed them the room they had lived in, and 
Bettina, listening, heard how they had eaten, dressed, 
and slept in one room, and that not a fine one. 

“ And our poor King,” a woman told Hans, “ had to 
take long walks if the Queen wished to dress, or the 
servants lay the table.” 

The Maids of Honour had been forced to sleep in a 
tiny, dirty closet, and the five gentlemen of the flying 
court in one room, with beds for two and straw on the 
floor for the others. 

“ And they changed about,” said the landlady. 
<e There was an Englishman, Mr. Jackson, with them, 
who was pleasant about everything. But our Queen! 
She is an angel ! ” 

“ On every hand someone had good to tell of her ; how 
sweet she was, how patient, how she cheered the whole 
party and only laughed when she went up to her knees 
in mud, and declared that she was not thirsty when they 
could get no wine and the water was not fit to be 
drunk by anybody. 

On one of the windows of the inn the landlady showed 
Hans some words the Queen had cut there with a dia- 
mond. 

The old man repeated them to Bettina. The great 
poet, Goethe, had composed them: 


92 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Who never ate his bread in sorrow. 

Who never spent the darksome hours 
Weeping and watching for the morrow, — 

He knows ye not, ye heavenly powers.” * 

Bettina looked puzzled. 

“And what does it mean, dear grandfather?” 

The old man took her on his knee. 

He held one little hand in his, and with his other he 
smoothed her soft hair. 

“ It means, dear child,” said he very solemnly, “ that 
we never can know the dear God well until, when all 
the world is fast asleep, we weep because of our own 
troubles. Then it is that it seems that we know best 
the dear God who, in the night, seems to comfort us. 
Do you understand, my Bettina? ” 

The little girl nodded. 

“ I prayed to the good God, dear grandfather, when 
mother was there,” she shuddered, “ and I was with 
Hans and Baby in the forest. Do you think, dear grand- 
father,” her lips quivered, “ that the poor Queen has 
such a trouble? Did that wicked Napoleon kill her dear 
mother, too ? ” 

Hans’ face twitched, and he drew his arm closer 
about little Bettina. 

“ The Queen’s mother, my child, died when her little 

* By many authorities said to have been only written in the 
Queen’s Journal. 


THE DOWNFALL 93 

girl was six, and she lived all her child life with her 
grandmother.” 

He smoothed Bettina’s hair with his hand, but his 
thoughts were with his Annchen. 

“ Grandfather,” Bettina patted his cheek with her 
hand, 66 grandfather, tell me, please, what is the trouble 
of the Queen? Why is she so unhappy? ” 

Then the old man explained how a Queen is the 
mother of all the people in her country, and of how, 
when a foe comes and with sword and war slays these 
people, it is her trouble and she must weep for her 
children. 

“ Then Queen Louisa, my Bettina, weeps for her poor 
husband, the King, who has lost his kingdom, and for 
her poor children, who are driven from their home and 
the palace. And now,” he added, “ in cold and ice and 
snow she has had to fly, as the landlady told you, with 
not enough to eat and no fit place to rest in.” 

Bettina sighed. 

“ Ach ja, dear grandfather.” 

Her own feet were very tired and she was certain 
that she understood that part of the Queen’s trouble. 

“ Grandfather,” she asked, “ please, what is a 
foe? ” 

“ Napoleon, child, Napoleon. He comes to do us 
harm, to work evil. He is the foe of the good King and 


94 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Queen, but especially does he hate our Queen and seek 

to do her harm.” 

Bettina opened her blue eyes. 

44 Grandfather,” she said, “ how can he? ” 

The old man shrugged his shoulders and sat ab- 
sently stroking her hair. 

As for the little girl herself, she was thinking. How 
anyone could be a foe of that lovely Queen it was hard 
to understand. But then, it was so with all the fairy 
princesses. There was always an ogre, Bettina remem- 
bered, but it was true, too, that the foes were always 
conquered by a knight, or a prince, a dragon, or some- 
thing. 

She remembered the cave of Kyffhauser. 

44 Grandfather,” she said, pulling at one of the but- 
tons of his coat, 44 why don’t the ravens wake Barba- 
rossa? I told one at our Forest House. I think, dear 
grandfather, it is time for him to wake up, don’t you? ” 
and she gazed quite anxiously into his face. As for 
Hans, he laughed for the first time in days. 

44 It would surprise the Emperor a little, my Bet- 
tina,” he said, and then told her that their journey was 
ended. 44 The King, dear child, is at Konigsberg, and 
there we will rest for a long time.” 

44 God be praised,” said little Bettina, in the way the 
Germans do. 44 1 shall truly be glad, dear grandfather, 
to sit down and do a little quiet knitting.” 


CHAPTER VII 
ON THE ROAD TO MEMEL 

On a certain day in the January following Jena the 
snow was falling fast. 

It clung to the tree limbs and turned the feathery 
firs to fairy trees. On the low bushes and oaks the ice 
glittered and gleamed, and a piercing blast, sweeping 
through the branches, crackled the crusted limbs and 
filled the air with a mysterious sound of coldness. Now 
and then a high-runnered sleigh dashed along the high- 
way, its driver muffled to the eyes in fur, the breath 
frozen on his beard or moustaches. From the Baltic 
Sea the breath of the frozen North swept over the East 
Prussian land and, obedient to its command, life seemed 
to still its slightest sound and the whole world freeze 
into silence. 

Suddenly the voice of a child broke the quiet. 

“ Grandfather,” — oh, how tired it sounded, — “ truly, 
dear grandfather, I can go no farther.” 

It was little Bettina, wrapped in a woollen shawl and 
trudging by the side of old Hans, whose face was almost 
hidden in a huge cape of fur. 

95 


96 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


They were still on their journey, though Konigsberg 
had been passed two days before. 

66 Ja, ja, Liebchen,” the old man paused in the road; 
“ it is cold, indeed. But have courage, little one ; we 
shall soon reach a village, and then sausages and 
bread.” 

“ God be thanked,” said little Bettina, and on she 
trudged, her poor feet so cold she could not feel them 
moving. 

On they went for a time in silence. Then the old man, 
with a short laugh, said: 

“ God be praised we have left the French behind 
us.” 

Before Bettina could answer, or Hans himself say 
more, the Baltic sent a breath sharp with icy edge. It 
cut the falling snow, it dashed the flakes in their faces, 
it beat against their bodies; and, gathering strength, 
it drove them apart, tossing and twisting Bettina. 

There was no speaking. 

The wind howled in icy salutation; the snow struck 
their eyes, drove itself into their mouths, lodged in the 
necks of their garments, whitened their hair and froze 
on their gloves and chilled them to almost fainting. 

Then suddenly the wind gave a shriek like a terrified 
spirit. The snow began to whirl, and upward went 
leaves, sticks, and even lumps of the earth itself. 


ON THE ROAD TO MEMEL 97 

Hans caught Bettina in his arms. He drew her to 
the edge of the road. 

“ Down ! down ! ” he cried, and pulled her into a 
gully. Harmless, the whirlwind passed above their 
heads, the ridge of earth protecting their bodies. 

“ Lie close, lie close, my Bettina,” cried Hans, and 
he drew her within the folds of his great cape with fur 
lining. 

Winds from the north, east, west, and south fought 
for mastery, the four beating and screaming and whirl- 
ing the innocent snow in their fury, until, rising, the 
white confusion became like a veil concealing every- 
thing. 

But wheels were approaching. They reached the 
road above the travellers, and then, their horses losing 
power any longer to struggle, suddenly stopped short 
in the road. Even their stamping sounded faint and 
exhausted, so great was the fury of the awful war of 
winds which nature had excited on that narrow neck 
of land in East Prussia. 

Then suddenly came a lull. The winds retreated from 
their battle ground. 

Both Hans and Bettina raised their heads in wonder. 
In the sudden quiet they heard a voice, a voice whose 
sweetness sounded a note quite familiar and a voice 
whose owner seemed ill and suffering. 


98 TWO ROYAL FOES 

“ I am in a great strait,” it said; “ let us fall now 
into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; 
and let me not fall into the hand of man.” 

Even while the voice was speaking the whirling snow 
fell like a curtain of white wool to the ground, and 
Hans and Bettina, rising, saw in the snow of the road 
a travelling carriage, on whose cushions, covered with 
a feather bed, lay a lady, white and pale, whose golden 
head, for want of a pillow, rested on the arm of an at- 
tendant. With her were ladies and a physician. 

Hans’ face flushed. 

“ Curtsey,” he whispered to Bettina. “ Curtsey, 
child, it is the Queen ! ” 

Bettina forgot her own cold. She was no longer 
tired, no longer hungry, in her pity for the poor, ill 
lady, who, when she saw a child, smiled her a greeting, 
quite feebly, but as sweet as the one at Jena. 

It was Queen Louisa of Prussia,. flying still before her 
foe, Napoleon. 

He had entered her palace; he had ransacked her 
private desks; he had read all her letters to her hus- 
band; he had published dreadful things against her in 
the French paper in Berlin ; he had proclaimed her the 
cause of the war; declared her to be vain, foolish, and 
unworthy of the love of her people ; and loudly had he 
declared that never would he rest until he had brought 


ON THE ROAD TO MEMEL 99 
the King and Queen of Prussia so low that they must 
beg for their bread. 

He had driven them from place to place, and now 
was advancing on Konigsberg. 

When Hans and Bettina had arrived in that old city 
the King had gone, the court was flying, and so, never 
heeding the snow, on they had gone, too, fleeing like 
the rest, before that dreadful Emperor. 

And here was the poor Queen, who had been ill to 
death in Konigsberg, journeying in the cold and snow 
to Memel, with not even a pillow to rest her head upon ! 

When the carriage started again Hans and Bettina 
walked behind it. 

66 It will shelter us,” said the old man, for the wind 
blew little Bettina almost off her feet.' 

Ach, as the Germans say, but it was cold! 

The blasts, sweeping from the Baltic to the Kur- 
ischehaff and from the Kurischehaff to the Baltic, still 
fought for mastery, and the curtain of the northern 
night began to fall about them early in the afternoon, 
and on they struggled in the gathering darkness. 

At last, through the snowy gloom, they saw the 
lights of a village, and, nearly frozen, they sought 
lodgings. 

Hans asked a woman whom he saw at a door to shel- 
ter them. 


100 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


She stoutly refused him. 

She was tall, dark, with sallow complexion and gleam- 
ing dark eyes, whose lids she had a trick of narrowing. 
Hans pointed to Bettina shivering and wet to her 
skin. 

“ You cannot refuse us a room,” he said. 

The woman shrugged her shoulders and hesitated. 

Truly, Bettina would have moved any heart. 

<c Because of the child, poor darling,” at last said 
the woman, “ though my man, if he comes, may not 
like it.” She shrugged expressively. 

She rubbed Bettina’ s hands and feet with snow and 
made her dip them in water, and, undressing her, she 
wrapped her in a warm bed-gown of her own and cov- 
ered her with a feather bed. 

“ Drink this,” and she held warm milk to her blue 
little lips, and when the child was sinking into a doze, 
she started towards her kitchen. At the door she 
paused. 

“ I must dry the child’s clothes,” she said, and com- 
ing back gathered up the damp, draggled garments, 
Bettina never noticing. 

As she was cleaning them in her kitchen she started 
violently. Bearing the dress on her arm she went to 
her room. 

“ I thought so ! ” she said, and her eyelids narrowed. 


ON THE ROAD TO MEMEL 101 

As for Hans, when he had dried himself somewhat 
and partaken of bread, cheese, and beer, he was off to 
the shoemaker’s house, where they had taken the Queen. 
In its kitchen, with its great stove and its pots of bloom- 
ing geraniums, he found some court servants, who, now 
they were resting, were glad enough of a gossip. 

Especially was the driver of the carriage fond of 
talk. 

“ Ja,” he said, “ our good Queen has been ill to death 
of a nervous fever.” 

Then he told of how she had been with the King; 
her children, with the Countess Voss; and first little 
Princess Alexandria, and then Prince Carl had been 
ill, and the Queen could not reach them. 

At Konigsberg little Carl had been near to death, 
and the Queen from nursing him took the fever. 

“ Ach Himmel,” said the driver, gazing from face 
to face in the hot, steaming kitchen, 46 it was terrible, 
for we thought we should lose her! Herr Doctor Hufe- 
land arrived from Dantzic. His Excellency found her 
near death. Ach, friends, but it was a dreadful night, 
and all hearts were anxious, for at sea was a ship, and 
on board Baron Stein, bearing to Konigsberg the state 
treasure. He had saved the gold and jewels in Berlin 
from that thief Napoleon.” 

Then he told how in the night, while the wind howled 


102 TWO ROYAL FOES 

and blew, there had come a crash which had startled old 

Konigsberg. 

It was a wing of the old castle which had fallen 
in the storm. 

44 And it brought bad luck,” continued the driver, 
“for a courier arrived soon after with despatches. 
4 Fly ! 9 they said, 4 fly ! the French approach Konigs- 
berg ! 9 99 

And then had come the flight, and he told how, the 
night before, the Queen had slept in a room whose win- 
dows were so broken the snow had drifted in all night 
over her bed and nearly frozen her. 

There was much to talk about, and all were eager to 
listen. The warmth from the stove was comfortable, 
and the shoemaker brought out some beer. The driver, 
who certainly was fond of talking, told of the suffer- 
ings of the Royal children; how the old Countess had 
not been able always to get them bread, nor find 
clothes to keep them clean and in order. 

44 And they have grown most noisy,” he said. 44 The 
Queen is an angel. Never does she complain, but is al- 
ways sweet and amiable, and the old Countess is very 
noble. But our King is gloomy and wrapped in thought 
and no one reproves the children.” 

The shoemaker asked questions about them. 

44 Prince William is the best,” said the man ; 44 he 


ON THE ROAD TO MEMEL 103 
looks like his father, but in disposition he is like our 
Queen. The old Countess calls him ‘ A dear good child,’ 
and that he is always.” 

Before he could continue a messenger arrived from 
Memel with bouillon from the King for the Queen. 

This arrival brought much excitement, and when 
again they were quiet they all fell to talking of the 
French and how the Emperor coveted the great fine 
city of Dantzic and of how its people vowed that he 
never should enter its gates while they could prevent 
him. 

“ Where is he now? ” asked Hans, hatred burning in 
his eyes and his cheeks flushing. 

66 They say in Konigsberg that he is at Helbsberg. 
Our army is in that neighbourhood, also. They report 
that both are approaching Eylau. Perhaps they may 
fight there.” 

The shoemaker’s wife came into the roomful of men, 
interrupting a second time. 

At first she coughed loudly, for they were puffing 
smoke everywhere. Then, with a beaming face, she told 
them how the Queen had just said she was more com- 
fortable than she had been anywhere on her flight. 

“ Our Queen is an angel ! ” Hans raised high his 
glass. “ Hoch ! ” he cried, as the Germans say when 
they drink to anything or anybody. 


104 . 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Hoch ! ” answered the others, but low, that they 
might not disturb the Queen. 

66 Long may she live,” said the voices. 

Then “ Three times hoch ! ” and they clinked their 
glasses softly and drained them. 

Then, it being late, Hans returned to Bettina. 

She was fast asleep, one little hand, thin and pale, 
lying outside the feather bed. On a chair by the bed- 
side were her clothes, clean and dry, and everything quite 
in order. 

Hans, in terror, felt for the letter. 

It was safe between the lining and the waist 
material, and, tired himself, he was soon fast 
asleep. 

Next day they all started forth, Hans and Bettina 
walking behind the carriage, and presently they came 
to the ferry at Memel. 

In those days Memel was a flourishing little city of 
about six thousand people, noted for its cleanliness and 
its English ways of living. It lies on water, and into 
its harbour came Dutch ships and English ones,, giving 
it a look of activity. 

As the Queen entered Memel a strange thing hap- 
pened. 

As if Nature, whom she loved with all her heart, 
wished to welcome her, the clouds suddenly parted like 


105 


ON THE ROAD TO MEMEL 
a curtain and there was the sun, which no one had seen 
for days, smiling forth gloriously. 

“ God be praised ! ” cried Hans. 44 It is a good omen.” 

As he and Bettina started into the city they came 
upon a lady and some children. She was stout and com- 
fortable looking and wrapped in fine furs. The oldest 
of her children was a girl about fifteen, and the pret- 
tiest girl Bettina had ever seen. 

When this lady saw Hans she gave a shriek. 

44 My goodness ! ” she cried. 4 4 Why, Hans, how came 
you here? ” 

As for Hans, he was all excitement. 

44 Mademoiselle Clara ! ” he cried. 44 Ach Gott ! that 
I see you again ! ” 

When the lady, with many exclamations, heard of 
Hans’ journey, she raised her hands in horror. 

44 Heavens ! ” she cried, 44 but you must come home 
at once with me. I am married now, Hans, and these are 
my children.” 

Then she turned to the pretty girl. 

44 Daughter,” she said, 44 this is Hans, Johannes 
Lange. He was with your grandfather when he was 
Colonel. Come, Hans ; come, child,” she smiled kindly at 
Bettina. 44 My husband is home and will welcome you 
kindly. Come, come ! ” 

And off she led them into Memel. 


CHAPTER VIII 


AMONG FRIENDS 

The stout lady, asking Hans question after question, 
led the way to a large, roomy house surrounded by a 
garden, now bare and wintry, the limbs of fruit trees, 
birches, and shrubs crackling with ice. 

44 This is, naturally, not our own house, Johannes,” 
explained the lady, who had just finished telling him 
how she and her family had fled from Berlin upon the 
approach of Napoleon. 44 This is my husband’s broth- 
er’s home,” she continued, leading the way to the door. 
44 In the spring we shall move to Konigsberg, where my 
husband will become professor in the University. Come 
in, Hans, come in. Ja, ja, you are right. It is a com- 
fortable house, but the cold here in Memel is awful. 
Carl,” she turned quickly to the small boy who was teas- 
ing his sister, 46 behave yourself, or I’ll send you to 
Napoleon ! ” 

It was funny to see him straighten up and become 
quickly as good as his sisters. 

44 Come in, come in,” she closed the door quickly. 
44 Husband ! Richard ! ” she called very loudly. 

A door at the end of the hall opened in response, and 
106 


AMONG FRIENDS 107 

out came a grave, learned-looking man, who smiled 
kindly from face to face. 

“ Richard ! Richard ! ” the lady’s voice screamed 
with excitement, “ who do you think is here ? ” 

She drew forward Hans and Bettina. 

“An old soldier of my dear father’s regiment,” her 
voice vibrated with pride, “ and one, dear Richard, who 
w r as with the great Frederick, and, oh, such a favourite 
with father, was it not so, Hans? ” 

The old soldier shrugged his shoulders as much as 
to say, “ It is not for me to agree.” 

“ Ja, ja, Richard, he was, and a favourite of our dear 
lost little Erna. It was such a surprise to see him,” and 
she motioned the group to the warmth of the sitting 
room. Then, all crowding around the tall, green stove, 
Hans told his story. 

“ Heavens, dear Richard ! ” the stout lady pulled out 
an embroidered pocket handkerchief, “ but seeing him 
brings back the past.” 

Then she turned to the pretty young girl. 

“ Mariechen, take the twins upstairs and see that they 
are quite dry as to stockings ; go, also, dear child,” she 
smiled at Bettina, who, feeling shy and strange, fol- 
lowed across the hall and upstairs to the room into which 
the young lady entered. 

“ The child is tired,” she heard the lady saying, “ and 


108 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Hans must see our King. He has brought messages. 
They must stay here. Ja, ja, Hans. The house is big, 
and our brother Joachim gives me my will.” 

Then the door closed and Bettina heard no more. 

In the great room where she found herself sat a dark- 
haired young lady embroidering. 

“ Pauline, Pauline ! ” called the children, “ Hans has 
come, and here is Bettina.” 

Then, before the pretty young girl could explain, in 
came the stout lady and told the one called Pauline how 
once this Hans had saved her little sister’s life, and how 
the family never could forget it, and that Bettina must 
be dressed drily in one of the children’s bed-gowns and 
given warm milk and at once sent to bed and left 
there. 

“ I’ll tell you the story presently. The child must not 
hear it again. It is dreadful.” 

When Bettina was safely in bed, up came Hans and 
the gentleman. 

“ My oldest son, Franz, was at Jena,” she heard the 
latter saying — and then to her surprise her grandfather 
called him “ Herr Professor.” 

Bettina, her eyes sparkling, sat up in bed. 

“Grandfather, dear grandfather!” she called, and 
when he came close, she drew down his head and 
whispered most eagerly. 


AMONG FRIENDS 109 

“ Nein, nein, child,” they all heard him reply, and then 
Bettina insist: 

“ But, yes, dear grandfather. Please, please ask him, 
I know it, dear grandfather, I know it.” 

“What is it, Hans?” and the Herr Professor came 
close to Bettina, smiling in his kind, fatherly way. 

“ She will have it, sir,” answered the old soldier, 
“ that your name must be 6 Von Stork,’ and that you 
are the father of the young Prussian soldier whom we 
nursed in the Forest House ! ” 

“ I know it, dear grandfather, I know it,” burst out 
Bettina in high excitement. “ The Herr Lieutenant told 
me of Carl and Ilse and Elsa and Mademoiselle Pauline 
and his big sister, Marianne, and of how our Queen 
kissed Carl — and ” 

Bettina could say no more. 

Screaming and crying out, they all crowded round 
exclaiming that it was their Franz, their own dear 
Franz and no other. 

And then they would know everything and all he did 
and said and just where he was wounded and how they 
took him prisoner, and Madame von Stork fell to weep- 
ing, and all the others cried, “ Ja, ja,” and “Nein, 
nein,” so loud and so much that poor, tired little Bettina 
was almost deafened. 

And then Hans must go all over the whole story 


110 TWO ROYAL FOES 

for them again, and it set Bettina to weeping, and the 

old man to vowing vengeance against Napoleon. 

Madame von Stork first rejoiced because her boy was 
alive, and then wept because he was a prisoner, and she 
thanked Hans over and over, and told him that she 
would care for Bettina so long as they remained in 
Memel. 

And then they all went from the room and Bettina 
fell sound asleep, and did not move until the next 
morning. 

But, no, she moved once, for her grandfather, coming 
into the room, waked her and asked her if she had taken 
the letter from her dress lining. 

“ Nein, grandfather,” she had answered and then had 
gone off to sleep. 

When next morning she opened her blue eyes, her 
grandfather was packing his bundle. 

Her little heart sank and her eyes filled. Was she to 
go forth in the ice and the wet and the snow and that 
awful wind again? 

“ Nein, nein, little one,” said the old man, patting her 
cheek very kindly. “ You shall stay here with my good 
Mademoiselle Clara,” for so he called Madame von 
Stork, as he had known her when she was as small as 
Bettina, and he explained that he was going alone, but 
would return in a day or two to Memel, 


AMONG FRIENDS 111 

Then, sitting on her bed, he asked her question after 
question. 

Had she told anyone of the letter, had a person 
touched her dress? 

“ Nein, grandfather, nein,” she said. 

At first she was quite certain. 

But, presently, she remembered the woman they had 
lodged with, and how she must have cleaned her dress 
and dried it. 

The old man clapped his knee with is hand. 

“ Ach Himmel, child ! ” he cried. “ It is she who has 
stolen it.” 

Then he shouldered his bundle, declaring he must 
fetch it. 

“ Auf wiedersehen, my Bettina,” he said, and departed 
from Memel. 

It was only a day’s journey to the village, but a week 
passed and no Hans. Then another. 

Madame von Stork shook her head. 

“ His trouble has crazed him,” she said. “ We will 
keep the child, yes?” and she looked at her hus- 
band. 

The Professor nodded. 

“ Our Franz loved her,” he answered. “ She is not 
noble, it is true, but she is sweet and good, and our 
children love her. The Stork’s nest, dear wife,” and he 


112 TWO ROYAL FOES 

smiled at her lovingly, “ is always big enough for one 

more, it is not, my dear Clara ? ” 

Madame von Stork nodded. 

Pauline was not their child, but a French refugee 
whose parents were nobles who had perished in the Revo- 
lution. The Stork’s nest had received her; so why not 
another? 

“ Let her remain,” concluded the Professor, “ until 
the old man returns, or we can make some provision for 
her.” 

So Bettina became one of the “ Nest,” as the von 
Storks always called their home, and with so much love 
and kindness about her, the little girl soon forgot much 
that she had suffered. 

“ But I should like to see Willy Schmidt and my little 
brothers,” once she said to Marianne, who was her 
favourite. 

The little round-faced, tow-headed twins flew to her 
sides, each taking a hand and pressing it against her 
chubby cheek. 

“When Barbarossa, that you told us of, Bettina, 
comes out of the cave, our father will take us all to 
Thuringia,” promised Use. 

“ What nonsense, you geese,” and Carl laughed 
scornfully. “ There isn’t a Barbarossa. Otto says so, 
and he’s fifteen and knows everything. Anyway,” he 


AMONG FRIENDS 113 

looked very proud of his knowledge, “ nobody can con- 
queror the Emperor ! ” 

But when he heard that Bettina had really seen the 
awful Napoleon, he listened with wideopen blue eyes and 
was not so important. 

Perhaps, after all, Bettina did know something. 

“ And you saw him,” he asked, “ saw Napoleon? ” 

“ Ja wohl,” answered Bettina, glad to have the young 
hero listen respectfully. 

“And he didn’t run away with you?” Carl looked 
eager. 

Bettina shook her golden head. 

“ Nein, nein, or I should not be here.” The twins 
roared. As for Carl, he laughed very rudely and snapped 
his fingers at Marianne. 

“ You just hear, Mariechen,” he said, “ Bettina’s seen 
Napoleon and he didn’t do a thing to her.” 

At that was the whole Stork’s Nest most sorrowful, 
for now they knew that Carl would never behave, since 
Napoleon was the only thing he was afraid of. 

While they were talking, Elsa and Use cried out to 
come quickly and see who was passing, and they all 
crowded to the windows, breathing on the frost that they 
might see out more clearly. 

What they saw was a tall, handsome gentleman with a 
kind, but very sad face, a lovely lady leaning on his 


114 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


arm, and two little boys, one tall and handsome, the 
other, delicate-faced with soft curly hair, clinging to the 
hand of the lady. 

It was the King and Queen of Prussia, with the Crown 
Prince and little Prince William. 

“ God be praised,” said Madame von Stork. “ Our 
dear, dear Queen has recovered.” She stood behind the 
group and watched, having entered the room while they 
were talking. 

As for little Bettina, a great happiness filled her. 

Her lovely Queen lived here in Memel and she walked 
out like other people. 

“ Perhaps,” she said to Use, “ one day we shall meet 
her.” 

But Use did not answer. 

“ Look, Bettina,” she cried, “ our King is talking to 
father.” 

Sure enough there was the Professor standing with 
their Majesties, first looking cheerful, then becoming 
grave and attentive. 

As soon as he entered the house he called to his wife. 
They talked for a long time in private, and after that 
day everybody in the house was very, very kind to 
Bettina. Sometimes Madame von Stork’s eyes would 
fill when they gazed at her, and once, when the little girl 


AMONG FRIENDS 115 

told her that she was making a nice pair of stockings 
for her grandfather, the lady began to weep. 

Bettina thought her tears were for the Herr Lieuten- 
ant, and sat very quiet. Only she could not help wonder- 
ing why no one ever said a word about her grandfather. 


CHAPTER IX 

THE STORK’S NEST 

As Madame von Stork had told Hans, her family had 
taken refuge in Memel when the news came that Napo- 
leon, having conquered the King at Jena, would advance 
upon Berlin. 

Old Major Joachim von Stork had welcomed his 
brother’s family into his great empty house in Memel, 
and in the safety of a new nest the Mother Stork had 
gathered beneath her wings all her startled, fright- 
ened brood, but two sons who had gone against Na- 
poleon. 

Bettina nearly laughed aloud when she saw the old 
Major. He was stout, and red-faced, and wore a stock 
as high as three inches. On each side of his head were 
four curls, frizzled and powdered, as they once wore 
hair in the army, and his pig-tail boasted a huge 
cockade. 

Bettina heard him talking one day with his house- 
keeper about his stocks: 

“ They must be exactly three inches high,” he ordered, 
“ exactly, my dear Frau, and as to my cockade, are you 
quite certain that it is large enough? ” 

116 


THE STORK’S NEST 117 

And he looked very anxiously at his housekeeper, who 
held up her hands. 

“Gracious, Herr Major,” she said, “it is immense.” 

But the Major, puffing a little, looked offended. 

“Immense, my dear woman, what on earth are you 
talking of? Why Captain von Schallenfels of my regi- 
ment had always seventy or eighty ells of ribbons on 
his queue. Fact, I assure you,” added the indignant old 
gentleman. “ It trailed so on the ground that he was 
forced to tuck it into his coat pocket when on parade. 
True, my dear woman, true, I assure you.” 

The old Major, however, was kindness itself, though 
he went his way just the same as if his house was still 
empty. And this way was to have his meals to himself 
and, at four o’clock each day, to depart to the house of 
one Monsieur von Schrotter, and, with six other Memel 
gentlemen, drink beer, smoke, and discuss the army, 
Prussia, or Napoleon, until bedtime. 

His wife, Bettina learned, had died many years before 
and he had but one son. 

“ Our cousin, Rudolph,” Carl told her. “ He is with 
my brother Wolf in the army.” 

In the evening all the family gathered in the sitting- 
room and there Bettina saw everybody. 

First, there was the Professor, tall, kind-looking and 
very fond of his wife and children. He still wore his 


118 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


hair in a pig-tail and not brushed forward like the King, 
and he liked silver buckles on his shoes, and a stock, 
but not high like that of his brother. 

“ And our father knows, oh, everything,” the twins 
told Bettina, “ so much that our Queen used to send for 
him in Berlin to talk to her. He has read, oh, all the 
books in the world.” 

Madame von Stork was as kind-looking as her hus- 
band, but she was stout, and her skin was pink and white 
like a girl’s, and she wore her hair very high, and on 
top of its rolls one of the huge turbans then the fashion. 
Sometimes she seemed quite like a large hen, clucking 
about her children, her feathers ruffling if a thing went 
wrong with any one of them. 

Especially was she troubled about her pretty daughter 
Marianne. 

“ And no wonder,” Bettina heard her telling the 
Major’s housekeeper, Frau Winkel. “ She is a girl, and 
yet is the one most like her dear father. She must al- 
ways be at her books, and I cannot make her care for 
her embroidery, her tent stitch, nor the cooking. And 
what good is a German girl who cares for none of these 
things? Who will marry her, my dear Frau Winkel? 
She is fourteen, and most girls are married at fifteen or 
sixteen. Pauline, now, is entirely different. When there 
are clothes to be mended, her fingers assist me. When 


THE STORK’S NEST 119 

the children are noisy, she can quiet even Carl. It is she 
who makes the puddings, and if she has a spare moment 
she is busy over her embroidery; a true house- wife by 
nature, and French, too,” added Madame von Stork, as 
if the two things were impossible. Perhaps it was 
Pauline’s troubles which had subdued her. Before the 
flight from Berlin, Marianne had known nothing but 
joy and petting, but Pauline had a history as sad as 
Bettina. 

One day, many years before the days of Memel, an old 
Frenchman had appeared at the “ Stork’s Nest ” in 
Berlin. 

Though his hair Was white, his shoulders bowed with 
trouble, and his clothes worn and poor, the Professor 
recognised him as a once very elegant-looking servant of 
a French nobleman whom he had known well in Paris. 
He led by the hand a little girl of eight or nine. 

44 My master and mistress lost their heads in the 
Revolution,” the man explained, 44 but I escaped to Ber- 
lin with Mademoiselle Pauline.” 

Then he told of his dangers and all they had 
endured. 

44 Monsieur,” he said, 44 1 am old, poor, and alone. 
What shall I do with a fine young lady ? ” 

Madame von Stork’s quick eye had been studying the 
child. The sadness of the pale little face, the neatness of 


120 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


the black dress, the daintiness of the Marie Antoinette 
kerchief warmed her heart to the homeless little girl. 

She looked at her husband, a question in her kind 
grey eyes. 

He nodded, and so Pauline came to the shelter of the 
“ Nest,” which so kindly welcomed Bettina also. 

And now Pauline was like Madame von Stork’s own 
child, and, since she was noble and hated the French 
Republic, and loved her poor King, she, too, had no 
good for Napoleon and, like the Prussians, hoped to see 
him conquered. 

“ And what I should do without Pauline, Heaven only 
knows,” Madame von Stork was often saying, “ my own 
Marianne being so useless.” 

Marianne might be useless, but Bettina thought her 
almost as pretty as the Queen, in her short-waisted dress, 
her puffed sleeves, her long mits, and her lovely curling 
hair tied in place with a snood of blue ribbon. 

When they all came to the sitting-room in the evening 
Bettina would arrange her stool quite near the “ gra- 
cious Fraulein Mariechen,” and, while she knitted away, 
she used to gaze up shyly at her pretty neighbour and 
make up stories about the Prince who would one day 
come and marry her. 

“ Pauline’s worth ten of her,” Otto was always saying. 
He was nearly sixteen and was always wanting some- 


THE STORK’S NEST 121 

one ,to do things for him, and, “ Marianne,” he said, “ is 
so stupid. Pauline can mend a fellow’s things in a 
minute.” 

But Elsa and Ilse, the twins, who were so alike only 
their mother seemed always to know which was which, 
and Carl preferred Marianne. 

“ She can tell you stories,” they told Bettina. 

As for Marianne herself, sometimes she was quite un- 
happy. She wanted to be useful, but she did so love to 
read, and then she forgot. And house work and cooking 
were not amusing. 

Madame von Stork had little good for idleness. 

“ It is German,” she always said, “ to work. Even our 
good Queen is never idle. I have seen a handkerchief 
she herself embroidered, Marianne, with beautiful 
flower designs and a crown in gold placed in one 
corner.” 

Settling herself with a huge bundle of mending, she 
with her keen eyes would inspect the family group each 
evening. 

“ Come, now, Marianne, no reading,” she would say. 
“You do not know what to do? Nonsense. There is 
your tent stitch. Pauline? Yes, yes, you of course are 
busy. Ilse, Elsa? Bettina? Knitting, that’s good. 
Carl? You are a boy? What foolishness. Get your 
pencils and drawing book. You don’t like that? Very 


122 TWO ROYAL FOES 

well then. Let Otto bring you the silhouettes that 

Mademoiselle von Appen began in Berlin, and you can 

cut others. But, Otto, first fix the lamp. There, where 

the light can fall on your father’s book. There, that is 

good.” 

Her eyes travelled from needle to scissors, from pencil 
to work. 

“There, there,” she said, her face beaming, “ we are 
a busy German family. Begin now, dear husband, we are 
all quite ready to hear your book.” 

The father of the family often read aloud to them in 
the evenings. But the books he read were not such as 
children would even look at to-day. 

Bettina and Marianne, the twins, Carl and the others 
all listened, on those long, cold Memel evenings, to 
grown-up histories, to romances, or sometimes to plays 
or poems, very long and very serious. 

Now and then the Professor would talk, not read, and 
then Bettina loved it. He told of the new Republic across 
the sea, America, which had fought a great war and was 
now free and independent, and there were stories of the 
great men called Washington and Franklin, and of all 
the excitement when they had signed a treaty of peace 
in Paris. 

“ I was young then,” said the Professor, “ and in 
Helsingor, and there was much talk of a new life begin- 


THE STORK’S NEST 123 

ning for the world with the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, — you must read it, Otto, — and the ships and the 
harbour were gaily decorated and cannon were fired and 
we all drank to the health of this new Republic at a fine 
party given to celebrate the birth of Liberty. And they 
raised the American flag and lit bonfires, and heavens, 
children, but there was hurrahing ! ” 

And he told of a great Englishman, named Nelson, 
who had conquered Napoleon at Trafalgar, and of the 
Revolution in France, and all that in his day had hap- 
pened. But often he read, and sometimes Bettina’s little 
head fell to nodding. One night she was almost asleep 
when the Professor’s voice stopped suddenly. 

66 Richard,” interrupted his wife, and her tone was 
furious, “ see our Marianne.” 

Bettina dropped her knitting and stared. So did the 
twins, and Carl stopped cutting. What had Marianne 
done? Her cheeks were quite crimson and one hand held 
something under the table cover. 

“ My Heavens, Richard, think of it ! Let me see it, 
Marianne. Obey me.” 

Never had Madame von Stork spoken so severely. 
The twins nearly fell from their chairs. Carl opened his 
mouth, and his eyes stared at Marianne. Pauline never 
looked up once from her embroidery. Bettina’s knitting 
needles shook in her hands. 


124 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ She’s been reading under the table cover,” an- 
nounced Otto with the superior air boys wore in those 
days with their sisters. “ It’s the 6 Sorrow of Werther.’ 
I see the cover.” 

Such a thing had never happened in the “ Stork’s 
Nest.” 

The father’s face grew stern, and anger made even 
his neck red to the roots of his queue. 

“ Marianne,” he began, when the maid opening the 
door announced: 

“ His Excellency, Herr Doctor Hufeland, and the 
gracious Herr Brandt.” 

A great cry of “ Ludwig ! ” “ Cousin Ludwig ! ” wel- 
comed the entrance of a tall, handsome man of perhaps 
thirty-five, with a serious face and English features. 
He was dressed in one of the long-tailed coats then the 
fashion, coming down to the top of his high, spurred 
boots. His hair was brushed forward, and within the 
high collars of his coat appeared a soft lawn stock. 
The other gentleman Bettina at once recognised as the 
physician who had been with the Queen on the road from 
Memel. 

“We call him 6 Cousin Ludwig,’ ” whispered Elsa. 
“ He was betrothed to our Aunt Erna who died.” 

“ He won’t speak French,” whispered Isle ; “ he says 
Germans should not imitate the French people as upper- 


THE STORK’S NEST 125 

class people do, but should speak their own lan- 
guage.” 

Bettina was glad of this, for often she had to sit for 
hours without understanding a word, unless the twins 
explained things. 

There was much to talk about. 

Madame von Stork bustled from the room to give 
orders for refreshments, and while she was gone, Herr 
Brandt, who had settled himself near Pauline, explained 
that he had come over from Konigsberg. 

44 I was with Baron von Stein,” he added. “ We 
escaped from Berlin with the royal treasure and arrived 
in Konigsberg at Christmas time. Since then I have been 
at Dantzic.” 

Bettina opened her little ears. Dantzic was a great, 
free city of Germany, around which was the army of 
Napoleon. Its people were holding out bravely and it 
was hoped that Napoleon would withdraw, 

44 But the city is bound to fall,” said Ludwig. 44 All 
who can are escaping.” 

That dreadful Emperor! Bettina seemed to see him 
on his white horse before the gate of the brave old 
city. 

When Madame von Stork returned, the maid followed 
her with cake and wine. 

44 God be thanked, gentlemen,” she said, 44 our brother 


126 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Joachim has a full cellar and as yet we have something 

to offer our visitors.” 

Pauline and Marianne served the guests, one, dark 
and handsome in a red dress trimmed with bands of fur, 
her arms and neck like ivory, her dark hair arranged in 
curls tied back with ribbon, the other, golden-haired and 
pink-cheeked, in a gown of blue, her curls tied back also 
with ribbon, the ends of her narrow sash floating about 
as she moved in her quick, merry way. As they ate and 
drank, Dr. Huf eland told his old friends all the sad 
things which had happened to the Queen because of 
Napoleon. He described her flight from Jena, relating 
how she rode through the lovely Harz Mountains to 
Brunswick and from there went to Magdeberg. 

“ And all the time, dear Madame,” the doctor turned 
to Madame von Stork, “ our poor lady had no idea of 
how the battle had gone, nor did she hear a word of the 
fate of the King. The Countess von Yoss tells me that 
for courage she has never seen her equal. The Queen 
held fast her hand and all through that dreadful flight, 
with the fear of Napoleon behind her, she repeated over 
and over texts which had words to sustain her.” 

“ What were they,- dear Doctor? ” 

“ From the eighth chapter of Romans, dear Ma- 
dame,” said the Doctor, consulting a little note book. 

“ Marianne,” commanded her father, “fetch the 


THE STORK’S NEST 127 

Bible. Let us hear what words gave comfort to our 
Queen.” 

Marianne tripped across the room and returned 
in a moment with a Bible which she laid before her 
father. 

All listening, he f ound the place and read aloud : 

“ The Spirit helpeth our infirmities, for we know not 
what we should pray for. 

“We know that all things work together for good to 
them that love God. 

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, 
or peril, or sword? 

“ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall 
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is 
in Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

“ Our good Angel,” murmured Madame von Stork, 
wiping her eyes. 

“ Ach, ja,” said the Doctor, “ she had much to endure, 
poor lady.” 

Then he related how, tired to death herself, she had 
tried to encourage the soldiers at Madgeberg, and of 
how in dread and trembling she had driven across the 
flat country towards Berlin, and at last had entered the 
old city of Brandenburg. 

“ It was by the old stoije, Roland,” continued the 


128 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Doctor, 44 that a courier stopped her with the news. 
4 Majesty,’ he said, 4 all is lost ! Everything ! ’ Then the 
Queen, seizing the papers from his hands, read the awful 
news, her figure trembling like a leaf ! 4 The battle was 
lost at Jena. The King has been defeated at Auerstadt. 
Napoleon is making on Berlin. Your Majesty must fly 
with the Royal children.’ ” 

Bettina’s tears fell as the Doctor’s voice faltered. 
The Mother of the Nest wiped her eyes on her embroid- 
ered handkerchief and the gentlemen and Otto blew 
their noses. Marianne sobbed. 

44 And our Queen,” went on the Doctor, 44 turned like 
a child to the old Countess. She has been to her like a 
mother, you know. 4 Voss, dear Voss,’ she said, 4 my 
poor, poor husband.’ Then she forced back her tears. 
4 Dear Voss,’ and she clung to her hand. 4 1 must go at 
once to my children.’ ” 

Then the Doctor told of how her carriage had dashed 
into Berlin to find the city a scene of wild confusion. 
The people, deceived by early news of a victory, were 
now driven into panic by the disaster at Jena. When 
the Queen entered they were pouring through the city 
gates in flight. 

44 Napoleon is coming! Napoleon! Napoleon!” was 
the cry which everywhere met her ear. 


THE STORK’S NEST 129 

“ It was terrible,” put in the Professor. 44 1 had to 
pay a fortune for the travelling carriages which 
brought us to Memel.” 

44 But the Queen,” the Doctor continued, 44 found only 
disappointment at the palace. Springing to the ground, 
she cried : 4 My children ! ’ to the attendant.” 

44 But they were gone,” interrupted Otto, 44 they left 
before we did. Their tutor took them to Swert-on- 
Oder.” 

The Doctor nodded, while the Professor frowned at 
Otto for his rudeness. 

44 Her Majesty,” resumed the Doctor, 44 sent at once 
for me. When I saw her I started in amazement. Her 
dress was travel-stained and crumpled, her hair in wild 
disorder, her face wet with tears. Never had I before 
seen her any way than very neat and smiling. She held 
out her hands. Oh, dear Madame, it brought tears to 
my eyes. 4 1 must fly to my children,’ she cried, 4 and 
you must go with me.’ Then, just as fast as we could, 
we proceeded to Swert, leaving things just as they were 
in the palace.” 

44 A great pity, too,” put in Herr Brandt, whose ways 
were most orderly. 44 For Napoleon, as we all know, 
found the Queen’s letters to her husband, read what he 
pleased, and published all that might injure her.” 


130 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ The monster ! ” cried Madame von Stork, motioning 
Marianne to fill the Doctor’s glass and pass the cake to 
Herr Brandt. 

“ Thank you, many thanks,” and /the visitor smiled 
at Marianne and went on with his talk. 

66 The meeting, dear friends, between our dear Queen 
and her children was most heartrending. The poor little 
things had been tom from their play in the palace, 
hurried into the travelling carriage and borne away with 
very little idea of what had happened. When they heard 
that their mother, whom they adore, had arrived, they 
rushed with cries of joy to meet her. Even the baby 
Alexandrina, holding the hand of little Prince William. 
But when they saw their mother, her face all wet with 
tears, her dress so tumbled and with such a wild look in 
her eyes, the poor little things started back in fright. 
The baby set up a wail, and even the Crown Prince 
looked frightened.” 

“Poor things,” murmured Madame von Stork, her 
handkerchief again to her eyes. 

“ 4 My poor children ! my poor children ! 9 cried the 
Queen. Truly,” and the Doctor gazed from the faces 
of Elsa, Ilse, and Bettina to the grown ones, “ it was a 
pitiful thing to see the frightened little faces. Our 
Queen, ashamed that she had frightened them, put her 
own feelings entirely aside and thought only of them! 


THE STORK’S NEST 131 

‘ Come with me, my darlings,’ she said, and taking the 
baby she led the way to her room. When she had re- 
moved her wraps, she gathered them all around her. 
6 Fritz, Willy,’ she said to the two older boys, 6 stand 
before me. Charlotte, Carl, sit one on each side. I will 
hold the baby. Listen now, and I will tell you why your 
mother comes to you thus in tears. My dear, dear chil- 
dren,’ I have written down every one of her words in my 
diary,” explained the Doctor, reading from his little 
book, “ 4 We have suffered a great and terrible defeat. 
Your poor, unhappy father and all the soldiers of Fred- 
erick the Great, your famous uncle, have been defeated 
in two terrible battles, one fought at Jena, the other at 
the same moment at Auerstadt.’ ” 

Then the Doctor told how she related the news of that 
dreadful October, and told of her journey and the flight 
to Berlin. And she spoke so simply that even little Carl 
had an idea of all the trouble. 

“ 4 My darlings,’ and she gathered Carl and Charlotte 
in her arms, 6 you see me in tears. I weep for the de- 
struction of our army, for the death of relatives and of 
many faithful friends.’ ” 

The older boys wiped their eyes, and Carl began to 
sob, for his lively Cousin Louis Ferdinand, who always 
brought him toys and had a joke ready, was dead, too, 
his mother had told him. 


132 TWO ROYAL FOES 

“ Fritz, Willy,” the Queen turned to them, speaking 
only to them, “ my dear, dear sons, you see an edifice 
which two great men built up in a century, destroyed in 
a day ; there is now no Prussian army, no Prussian em- 
pire, no national pride: all has vanished like the smoke 
which hid our misery on the fields of Jena and Auer- 
stadt. Oh, my sons, my dear little children, you are al- 
ready of an age when you can understand these unhappy 
things. In a future age when your mother is no more, 
recall this unhappy hour. Weep again in your memories 
my tears, remember how I in this dreadful moment wept 
for the downfall of my Fatherland.” 

Then she described to them the glorious death of 
their cousin, Prince Louis Ferdinand, and again ad- 
dressed the little princes especially. 

“ But do not be content, little sons, with tears. 
Bring out, develop your own powers, grow great in 
them, Fritz, Willy. Perhaps the guardian angel of 
Prussia gazes on you now. Free, then, your people from 
this humiliation which overpowers it. Seek to shake off 
France as your grandfather, the Great Elector, did 
Sweden. Do not forget, my sons, these times. Be men 
and heroes worthy of the names of Princes and grand- 
sons of Frederick the Great, and for Prussia’s sake be 
willing to confront death as Louis Ferdinand encoun- 
tered it.” 


THE STORK’S NEST 133 

The fire which thrilled her voice caught the souls of 
the two boys and their eyes glowed with excitement. 

“ We promise, dear mother,” said the Crown Prince, 
and both boys kissed her. “We promise,” said little 
William. 

Then the Queen being so tired sent the children from 
her, and attendants appeared from Berlin, couriers ar- 
rived with despatches, and Count Hardenburg, the 
Prime Minister, waited on Queen Louise with news of 
the King. 

His Majesty, he assured her, was safe and sent word 
that the Queen and the children must go at once to 
Stettin. 

On the twentieth they arrived in that strong town, 
and the Queen said good-bye to her children. 

“ Go, darlings,” she told them, “ with our Voss to 
Dantzic. Mother will join father at Custrin.” 

Then she held them a moment one by one in her arms 
and begged them to be good and to pray always for 
their country. 

“ Auf wiedersehen, darlings, as soon as possible you 
will see both your dear father and your mother.” 

Then they had separated, the Countess Voss and the 
children going towards the Baltic, the Queen joining 
her husband in the strong old fortified town where he 
was then in hiding. 


134 * TWO ROYAL FOES 

But something very annoying happened to the Queen 
at Stettin. 

There she had been promised fresh horses. She 
waited and waited and none were brought forth. At last 
it was discovered that all the horses had been turned 
into the field after her arrival, and that she must go on 
to the King with her tired one. 

“ It was the work of that villain, Napoleon. All be- 
lieve that everywhere,” put in Ludwig. 

When Dr. Huf eland had finished his story, Ludwig 
Brandt told of the entrance of Napoleon into Berlin; 
how he came in a splendid procession with flags flying 
and trumpets sounding. 

“ But the Berliners, watching him from the windows, 
wept,” he added, his face glowing. 

Then he related how Napoleon had said all manner of 
things against the Queen, and of how surprised he was 
when he first beheld her portrait at Potsdam. “ I had no 
idea that she looked like that,” he said, and began to 
ask questions about her and listened attentively to all 
the praise which on every side was given her. 

But, however much he was interested, it did not pre- 
vent his accusing her of having caused the war, before 
an assembly of Berliners he called to discuss matters. 
Only one of these Prussians had courage to defend the 
Queen. He was an old clergyman named Erman. 


THE STORK’S NEST IBS 

Up he stood and looked Napoleon straight in the eye. 

“ Sire,” he said, “ that is not true.” 

Not a soul believed that he would escape with his life, 
but he did. 

“ Perhaps,” said the Professor, “ Napoleon respected 
one brave man among such a group of cowards.” 

Before the Doctor could reply, a thundering knock 
at the door made all stop and look at each other in con- 
sternation. 


CHAPTER X 
FRESH TROUBLES 

It was the Major, who never could wait a minute. 

His face was red and the powder from his curls 
had been shaken off in his hurry. He greeted no 
one. 

“ Richard, Richard,” he cried, “ there is news of a 
battle at Eylau!” 

The gentlemen sprang from their chairs, Madame 
von Stork turned pale. Her Wolfgang was with the 
army. 

“Yes, yes,” cried the Major, speaking French very 
rapidly, “there has been a battle, a dreadful one, 
something terrible. There is no news yet that is cer- 
tain. Some say, victory, others, defeat, but the whole 
town is in wild excitement. I have heard that the suf- 
fering of the soldiers was awful.” 

“ Naturally,” said Herr Brandt in German — not a 
word of French would he speak, “ with all this ice, 
snow, and freezing.” 

“ I have but one boy,” said the Major, “and he is 
with the army. Here, Clarchen, some wine. Ah, many 
thanks, Mademoiselle Pauline.” In spite of his worry 
136 


FRESH TROUBLES 137 

he made a gallant bow, the cockade on his queue bob- 
bing. 

“ My Rudolph,” he said, 44 is a soldier, and perhaps 
at Eylau. But he can be nothing better than his father 
was, now can he ? ” He settled his double chin over his 
high stock and gazed from his blue eyes at the gen- 
tlemen. 

The Professor motioned them all to seats. 

44 Clarchen,” he said to his wife, 44 it is bedtime for 
the children.” His voice was trembling. 

The children all bowed and curtsied, and, kissing their 
mother’s hand and wishing pleasant dreams for every- 
body, departed; Marianne, Pauline, and Otto, also. 

The gentlemen, for Madame von Stork in a moment 
followed to give orders to her servant, sat with filled 
glasses and discussed Napoleon and their country. 

Presently the Professor left the room to order 
another bottle of wine and some sandwiches. 

44 That older girl, Mademoiselle Pauline, is an excel- 
lent maiden,” remarked Dr. Hufeland, in tones of 
admiration. Herr Brandt nodded, his face growing 
serious. 

44 Did you notice how calm she kept amid all the ex- 
citement ? ” 

44 Yes, yes,” said the Major, 44 she is excellent, always 
ready to arrange my stock or tie the ribbon on my 


138 TWO ROYAL FOES 

queue. Very different from my niece, Marianne,” he 

added, “ very different, I assure you.” 

Herr Brandt raised his eyebrows. 

“ Richard has spoiled that girl,” he remarked ; “ see 
here.” He picked up “ The Sorrows of Werther,” 
which lay under Marianne’s chair. 

Then he read aloud high-flown passages marked by 
Marianne’s pencil. 

“ How her parents expect any sensible German man 
to marry her I cannot form an idea. A German man 
desires a wife who can cook, sew, and keep his house in 
order.” 

The Doctor raised his hand, for the Professor was 
entering with the bottle. 

Almost immediately his wife followed. 

Her eyes at once fell on “ The Sorrows of Werther,” 
and her face darkened. 

66 See, Richard, see,” she cried, “ we quite forgot 
to scold Marianne.” 

u Come, come, Clarchen,” the Professor’s voice was 
kind and soothing, “ let the girl be. We have far 
more serious things now to worry over.” 

Then he lifted the book from the table. 

“ Ah, Goethe,” he cried, and, in a moment, the battle 
of Eylau and all else was forgotten, while his eager 
eye conned the familiar pages. Madame von Stork 


FRESH TROUBLES 139 

turned to the others, who burst into laughter as they 
watched her husband. 

“ Just see him!” cried the poor lady, her turban 
bobbing as she shook her head with violence. 

Startled, the Professor looked up from his book, 
his mild, learned face full of wonder. 

“ What is it? ” he asked, “ is it supper time? ” 

“ Nein, nein, Richard,” and Herr Brandt slapped 
his shoulder with sarcastic affection. “ It is nothing, 
you know, only the cannon of Napoleon.” 

He, himself, had not the least good for Goethe, who 
had remained quietly at his dinner in his garden in 
Weimar when the cannon were thundering at Jena, 
and who sang no songs of patriotism, had nothing to 
cry out against Napoleon. 

“ But, Richard,” his wife laid her hands on his 
arm, “ you must pay heed to Marianne.” The gentle- 
men nodded. “ She is more trouble to me than all my 
other children. Even the twins and Carl are more use- 
ful. Reading, talking, dreaming, that is Marianne. 
She is good for nothing else. It is Bettina Brentano 
who has ruined her. I have never approved of that 
friendship. But, O Heavens, why worry over anything 
when my Franz is a prisoner, and my Wolfgang, I 
know not where ! ” and she burst into tearful sobbing. 
Herr Brandt and Dr. Huf eland arose in haste, and, 


140 TWO ROYAL FOES 

kissing her hand and saying good-night to the Professor 

and Major, they fled. 

There was little sleep for anyone that night, for 
dreadful pictures of Wolfgang, or Rudolph, frozen, or 
dead in the snow, arose before every eye, and drove 
away all slumbers. 

On the morning, when the courier brought the truth 
to Memel, Marianne was writing a letter to her friend 
Brentano. 

She had met this famous friend of Goethe when she 
was a year younger, and on a visit to her aunt in 
Frankf ort-on-Main. 

Never had Marianne seen anyone who had seemed to 
her so clever. 

Both of them adored the poet Goethe, it being the 
fashion in those days for young girls to worship some 
poet. 

Bettina Brentano knew Goethe’s mother, a fine old 
lady whom everyone called “ Frau Rat,” and often 
she and Marianne went to see her. 

When Marianne returned to Berlin she was changed 
entirely. 

From a merry, jolly, little girl she had become a 
mournful maiden who convulsed her family with the 
most melancholy speeches. She spoke of the gloom 
of living, of the joy of dying while one was still beauti- 


FRESH TROUBLES 141 

fill, and if anyone talked of Goethe, or even so much as 
mentioned his name, Marianne clasped her hands and 
rolled her eyes and behaved, her brother said, “ like 
an idiot.” 

The Professor only laughed. 

“ She has the Goethe fever, Clarchen,” he told his 
wife. “ It has spread at times all over Germany.” 

But on the day when Carl had been lost and the 
Queen had kissed him, the fault of the whole affair was 
to be laid on the shoulders of Marianne. 

Then the Professor had at last listened to his wife 
and heard how Marianne would do nothing but read 
books, keep a foolish, sentimental journal, and write 
letters to Bettina Brentano. 

“ And, dear husband,” his wife had added, “ our 
Marianne talks of love and hopeless sorrow, our Mari- 
anne, who used to be so merry. Her thoughts are never 
with the coffee-cake, never with her sewing. And tell 
me, please, how is a girl to get a husband with this 
nonsense? Her wedding chest, which every German 
girl, as you know, must have ready, has not a thing 
to boast of, and Pauline’s is entirely ready. She 
will not stitch, knit, or embroider, only read, read, 
read.” 

“ It is the Goethe fever, I tell you, dear wife,” said 
the Professor. “ It will vanish.” 


142 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


66 But, Richard,” pleaded the Mother Stork, “ con- 
sider the candles.” 

« Candles? ” 

Ah, that was a different matter. 

“ Yes, yes, dear husband, the candles. Do not think 
for an instant that I permit all this nonsense to go on 
in the daytime. If I see Marianne with a book, I take 
it away and provide needlework. And what does she 
do but burn candles ! ” 

<fi Ah,” said the Professor, “ that will never do. I 
will see to the matter.” 

Now, at that moment Marianne was safe, she .thought, 
in her room, her pretty hair floating over her blue 
dressing jacket, her paper on her desk, her pen in her 
hand. 

“ Ah, my chosen friend, my Bettina,” she wrote in 
the high-flown style of that day, “ who but thou 
understands thy Marianne? On every side I meet with 
derisive laughter when I would speak of him whose 
name I am not worthy to mention, our Master, thine 
and mine, our Goethe! Oh, to be again with thee, to 
sit with thee beneath the free, open Heaven, gazing 
upward at the celestial orbs whose silver beams thrill 
into thought, mysterious wonder of that law-ruled 
world of Nature which none but poets truly know. Oh, 
Bettina, how worthless is life when spent amid the 


FRESH TROUBLES 143 

trivialities of nothingness. Oh, to wander with thee, 
my heart’s true friend, chosen of my spirit, to wander 
on the wings of thy imagination into the realms of 
infinite calm, and there to prepare our souls to be 
a sacrifice to him who ” 

A knock at the door had interrupted this flight of 
sentimental fancy. 

In had come her father. 

With a laugh he had shut the writing-desk. 

“ Liebchen,” he said, “ it is time for bed. Do your 
writing by daylight.” 

Then he kissed her cheeks and patted her hair, and 
told her he could have no such wasting of candles. 

“To bed in five minutes,” he had commanded, and 
that ended the burning of candles. But nothing yet 
had cured her of her thoughtlessness, and it was still 
Pauline who did everything to assist the mother. 

On the day that the news came of Eylau, Madame 
von Stork and Pauline were busy making coffee-cake, 
Bettina, Use, and Elsa helping stem currants and stone 
raisins. 

In her room Marianne was telling Bettina Brentano 
all about their life in Memel. She was not sure that she 
could send a letter, but it was amusing at all events 
to write it. It was stupid to make coffee-cake. 

“ It is pleasant, dear Bettina,” she wrote, “ that our 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


144 

dear Queen and King are in Memel. Often, now, father 
is sent for to talk with the Queen, and one day mother 
took me to pay our respects to the Countess von Voss, 
who is a friend of my dear grandmother. She is a 
very lively and beautiful old lady, Mistress of the 
Court, and like a mother to our Queen. She is very 
clever, and the gentlemen greatly admire her. She is 
so stately, and will not forgive a lack of ceremony. I 
was in the greatest terror, as you may imagine. We 
were shown into her room where she was engaged at 
her toilette, some gentlemen, among them a Mr. Jack- 
son, an Englishman, laughing and talking as her maid 
did her hair. 

44 I made my curtsey and saluted her hand. 

44 4 And this is your daughter , 5 she said very kindly 
to mother. 4 Dear Clara, the child has a look of poor 
Ema.’ 

44 That was my aunt, my Bettina, who died when 
she was a girl, and who was engaged to Ludwig Brandt. 

44 Then the Countess asked us to be seated, and when 
at last her hair received its crown of a turban, she 
gave us some fine tea from England, which Mr. Jack- 
son had given here. 

44 It was most kind in her, but I prefer our coffee. 

44 She told us story after story about our Queen, for 
it is of her that she best likes to talk; and, also, she 


FRESH TROUBLES 145 

spoke of dear little Prince William, and of how he 
had entered the army. 

44 It happened on New Year’s Hay, because the com- 
ing of the French made the King fear that he could 
not present him with the honour on his birthday. 

44 When the Royal children appeared before our 
King, he greeted them for the New Year, and then 
turned to little Prince William, and, oh, he is the 
dearest little fellow, my Bettina! so sensible-looking 
and so, in face, like our King. 6 To-day,’ said our 
King, 4 something very important is to happen. Wil- 
liam,’ and he turned directly to him, 4 1 have nomi- 
nated you to a commission in the army. We can no 
longer stay here in Konigsberg, because of the ap- 
proach of the enemy, and we must go to Memel at 
once. I might not be able to give you the appointment 
on your birthday, as I had intended to do, so I give 
it to you now.’ Then, indeed, as you may imagine, little 
William was happy. 

44 The Countess told us how they arrayed him in a 
blue coat, with a red collar and narrow, dark trowsers 
and high boots to his knees. Exactly like the Guard, 
you remember. 

44 Then, suddenly, everybody began to cry 4 Ah 
Heaven ! ’ and lift up hands in horror. It is a rule 
that the Guard must wear queues, and Prince William’s 


146 TWO ROYAL FOES 

hair was too short for a pigtail. 4 And there they 
were,’ said the Countess, 4 acting as foolishly as they 
are doing about this war, when I simply sent out for 
a false queue and tied it on the child’s hair, and ended 
the trouble.’ Then they gave him a little cane, and 
behold, a fine soldier! 

44 He is my favourite, and sometimes I think that 
the Countess likes him better than the Crown Prince, 
who certainly knows that he is clever, but he is very 
handsome. Then the Countess told us of how dreadful 
it was at Konigsberg, where our dear Queen was so 
ill, and how, when they told her that the French were 
at hand, she begged to be allowed to travel. She had 
a great horror of that monster, Napoleon, who has 
vowed to capture her, and so she told them it was better 
to fall into the hands of the good God, than into the 
hands of man. 

44 Mother asked the Countess why Napoleon so hated 
the Queen. Before she could answer her parrot sud- 
denly called out in the funniest way: 4 Napoleon is a 
monster! Our Queen is an angel! Down with the 
French ! ’ You can guess how startled we were, 
but . . 

Before Marianne could end her sentence she heard 
Otto calling : 44 Marianne ! Marianne ! ” 

She flew downstairs and into the great kitchen. 


FRESH TROUBLES 147 

There were Pauline, her mother, the children, and 
her father all listening to her uncle. 

“ The courier has come ! ” cried Otto, “ Uncle will 
tell us the news ! ” 

Both Russians and French claimed the victory, but 
such sufferings had never been known in the world’s 
history. 

Amid the ice and snow, all had waited for days, the 
Russians occupying a church and graveyard, the camp 
fires lighting snowy fields and trees and bushes which 
crackled. 

“ The courier, dear Richard,” the old major ad- 
dressed his brother, “ says thousands are sleeping a 
sleep from which even the love of their families never 
can wake them.” 

He blew his nose with great violence. 

“ The snow is red with the blood of thousands,” he 
continued, “ the Russians, God be thanked, kept their 
ground. They are not conquerors, it is true, but they 
have checked Napoleon ! ” 

The Major’s face flushed crimson. 

“ God be praised ! ” cried all the company, and the 
kitchen rang with rejoicings. 

But they had not heard all the good news. 

“It is said,” concluded the Major, “that the Em- 
peror of the French will now propose peace.” 


148 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ And Wolfgang? Rudolph? ” 

The Major shook his head, his cockade bobbing. 

“ No news yet, dear sister, we can trust only in 
God, but I have no reason to believe they were at 
Eylau.” 

Bettina had listened eagerly. 

She was very much afraid of the Major. He was 
so red-faced and important looking, and had not much 
good for people below him, and so she waited until 
at last he left the room. Then she crept quietly to 
Marianne. 

“ Please, dear gracious Fraulein,” she whispered, 
u was my grandfather in the battle?” 

Marianne was opening her lips to speak, when Otto 
interrupted : 

“Nein, Bettina, nein. Your grandfather . . .” 

“ Otto ! ” 

Pauline quickly stopped him, her hand across his 
mouth. 

<c No, little Bettina,” she said very kindly, “ your 
grandfather was not with the army.” 

66 Will he come, gracious Fraulein, come soon ? ” 
Bettina’s eyes looked up eagerly. 

“ Perhaps, child, perhaps.” Pauline turned away 
and picked up some cups from a table. 


FRESH TROUBLES 149 

“ Run away, children,” she said, 66 and play until 
dinner.” 

Bettina went slowly. It was very strange that her 
grandfather never came back to fetch her. They were 
kind to her and she loved them, but she wanted her 
grandfather. Would she never see Thuringia again, 
nor Willy, nor her godmother, nor her brothers? The 
tears filled her eyes and the sobs came. 

Poor little Bettina! 

She lived in sad, cruel times, and she was to be a 
woman before she ever again met even one of them, or 
walked in the forest paths of Thuringia, or saw the 
spire of St. Michael’s rising high above the red roofs 
of Jena 


CHAPTER XI 

THE MOTHER OF HER PEOPLE 

One morning, soon after the news of Eylau, the Major 
told the children that an English ship had arrived in 
the harbour. 

“ Mother, mother,” they cried, “ may we go and 
see it? ” 

Poor Madame von Stork, who was almost ill from 
worry over Franz and Wolfgang, rejoiced at the 
thought of a morning free from noise and questions. 

“ Yes, yes,” she agreed very quickly. “ Put on your 
wraps and furs, and Pauline and Marianne shall take 
you.” 

In a few moments the whole party set forth, Pauline 
and Marianne in dark red dresses, fur hoods, and great 
baggy white muffs, the children wrapped to the tips 
of their noses, Otto and Carl in huge cloaks and fur 
caps. 

Reaching the bridge, whom should they come upon 
but the Queen and her party, who, also, were there 
to see the great ship. The Crown Prince was there, 
handsome, clever-looking, clinging to the arm of his 
mother, to whom he seemed entirely devoted, little 
150 


THE MOTHER OF HER PEOPLE 151 
William with such a clear good look in his face that it 
was impossible not to love him, and beautiful little 
Princess Charlotte keeping shyly at the side of the 
Countess Voss, who was guarding with watchful eyes 
the merry Maids of Honour. 

When the Princes saw Otto and Carl, their faces 
lighted, and they whispered to their mother, who at 
once begged the Countess to have them sent for. 

“ My little boys, the Crown Prince and Prince Wil- 
liam, would like to know you,” she said, and then she 
sent the four to the side of the bridge that they might 
talk without grown people listening. 

Princess Charlotte at once flew to her mother’s side, 
the joy in her face proving that she had not the cold 
nature that seemed to show in her face. 

Then the Queen, with one of her bright smiles, asked 
Pauline and Marianne if they could not come and 
assist in making lint for the soldiers. The ladies of 
the court, she said, worked busily in her rooms. Then 
she turned away, and, with Charlotte, joined the boys, 
whose laughter soon rang as if they were enjoying 
themselves. At once the Maids of Honour began to 
amuse themselves with Marianne, and, some of the gen- 
tlemen soon joining them, they turned the talk to 
Goethe, and then laughed behind their hands when 
Marianne rolled her eyes and clasped her hands and 


15$ TWO ROYAL FOES 

spoke of Frau Rat, and vowed she would never marry 
because there was but one man in Germany, and that 
one, Geothe ! 

The Countess von Yoss did not like this conduct. 

44 I beseech you, dear ladies,” she said with great 
dignity to the Maids, 44 let Mademoiselle von Stork 
alone. Young girls are better unnoticed.” But the 
Maids of Honour tossed their heads and would not 
stop their nonsense. 

44 Do you not pity us, Mr. Jackson,” they cried to 
a handsome young Englishman, 44 that we have but one 
man in Germany? ” 

But Mr. Jackson, being very devoted to the old 
Countess, only remarked: 

44 Oh, greatly, ladies,” and began conversing about 
the ship with his favourite, and the Maids of Honour 
were left to Marianne. 

Meanwhile Bettina and the twins had been amusing 
themselves. 

Bettina was so happy that her eyes did nothing but 
gaze at the face of her dear, beautiful Queen. 

Never was anyone so lovely, so patient. With a kind 
word for all she put aside her troubles and showed the 
boys how the ship was manned, told them what this 
meant and that, and now and then patted Charlotte’s 
hand, that she might not feel neglected. Never for a 


« THE MOTHER OF HER PEOPLE 153 
moment did she seem to think of herself or her own 
pleasure. She smiled at the twins, asked their names, 
and then tried to tell them apart, and laughed quite like 
a girl when she called 44 Ilse,” 44 Elsa.” 

Suddenly she gazed at Bettina as if puzzled. 

44 Dear Voss,” she touched the arm of the Countess, 
44 do we not know this child ? Where have we seen her ? ” 

The Countess called Marianne. 

44 It’s a sad story,” said the girl, glancing at Bettina, 
whose eyes were fixed on the Queen. 

Then the Countess commanded Bettina to run away 
with the twins and watch the sailors, and taking Mari- 
anne to the Queen, told her to relate the child’s history. 

More than once, as Marianne told the story, the 
Queen’s eyes filled with tears. 

44 Poor child,” she said, 44 poor little Bettina ! ” 

When she had heard it all, she had Marianne bring 
Bettina back again. 

44 Dear child,” she said, 44 surely I have seen you 
before. Is it not true? ” 

And she smiled at the little girl most enchantingly. 

Now, nobody had ever told Bettina that a little girl 
must be afraid of a Queen, so she smiled back at 
her with the eager, bright look which made her so 
pretty. 

44 Ja, ja, dear Queen,” she said, for no one had told 


154 TWO ROYAL FOES 

her to say “Majesty,” and then she told of the inn 

on the road from Jena. 

A look of pain banished the brightness from Queen 
Louisa’s face. Very gravely she asked Bettina question 
after question, and she heard of the cruel journey, and 
of how Bettina’s grandfather had left her. 

“ Yes, yes,” she nodded to the Countess, “ I remem- 
ber the old man. It was of him that we spoke to the 
Professor, your father,” and she glanced at Marianne 
with a look of warning. 

“ But, dear Queen,” said little Bettina, nodding her 
head in her bright, fairy way, “ my dear grandfather 
will come back soon, and we will go to Thuringia 
when the Kaiser Barbarossa comes from the cave and 
with his great sword kills the Emperor ! ” 

The Queen did not laugh. 

“ God grant it, dear child. God grant it,” she said. 
“ Let us pray that the ravens will wake him, the old 
Red-Beard.” 

When Bettina had danced away to the twins, she 
turned with a saddened face to the old Countess. 

“ Dear Voss,” she said, and her voice was low and 
troubled, “ these poor, poor children whom this cruel 
war has orphaned! Each day I hear a fresh story of 
their suffering. Alas, that I, the Queen, can do noth- 
ing for want of money. But something must be done, 


THE MOTHER OF HER PEOPLE 155 
and I, the Queen, must do it. Such a lovely child, so 
trusting and, alas, so desolate.” 

Then, her whole mood changed, she walked back 
to her house in Memel, her heart heavy with the trou- 
bles of the Fatherland. 

That very day Ludwig Brandt appeared. Why he 
travelled to and fro over the country no one knew, un- 
less it was the Professor. It was something to do with 
the war, of that all were certain. 

He reported that fifty thousand French and Rus- 
sians lay dead in the snow of Eylau, and that Napoleon 
was to send General Bertrand to Memel to propose 
peace to King Frederick William. 

In a day or two this general came — “ A most dis- 
agreeable-faced Frenchman,” the old Countess called 
him, “ and with dreadful manners,” — and the story of 
his visit was soon known about Memel. 

He had submitted an offer of peace from Napoleon, 
who agreed to restore his kingdom to the King of 
Prussia if he would break off his friendship with the 
Czar of Russia. 

To the Queen he brought most agreeable and flat- 
tering messages from Napoleon. He sent her word that 
he had been deceived in her character. He wished now 
to be friends. 

The Queen was polite, but that was all. She had 


156 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


no belief in the promises of the French Emperor. 
Napoleon had made a cruel war on a poor, helpless 
woman, driving her across the country, reading her 
letters, publishing wicked things against her, having 
horrid pictures drawn of her for his newspapers, and 
declaring her to have caused the war and all the misery 
to Prussia. 

It was impossible to believe that he had truly re- 
pented because he had halfway lost a battle. 

As for the good King, he refused to break his word 
to his friend to save his kingdom, merely because Na- 
poleon commanded him. 

44 Let the war go on,” he said, and suffering Prussia, 
its houses burned to the ground, without food, with 
the cruel French everywhere, cried: 

44 Hoch to our King ! He is a good man, and true, 
and we will shed our last drop of blood in his service ! ” 

And so General Bertrand left Memel, and the war 
went on. 

But everywhere there was much suffering. Even the 
King and the Queen had little to eat and no money to 
buy anything, for the French had burned the farm- 
houses, the farmers were in the army, and this poor 
land must feed not only its own people, but all the 
enemy. Sometimes seven villages could be seen burn- 
ing at once, and behind Napoleon’s white horse stalked 


THE MOTHER OF HER PEOPLE 157 
two dreadful figures. One, called Death, commanded 
executions in every town and slew thousands on the bat- 
tlefield, and refused to spare hungry little children. Gaze 
where the poor Prussians would, the shadow of his great 
scythe was over them. The other, Famine, breathed 
on the poor down-trodden fields, and nothing flourished ; 
with her fierce hands she gathered up all the wine in 
the cellars, the potatoes saved for winter, the meat, 
the fruit, all there was to eat everywhere. 

The poor Prussians between them were desolate. 

In those cruel days there came to the King’s house 
in Memel two simple people of a sect of which there are 
some now in America, the Mennonites. Their name was 
Nicholls, and they asked to see the King and the 
Queen. 

When they came before their Majesties, Abraham, 
the husband, holding in his hand a bag, addressed the 
unhappy, worried-looked King: 

“ Majesty,” he said, “ I bring you from my people, 
who send me as their deputy, two thousand gold Fred- 
ericks. We have collected them among ourselves, and 
offer them as a token of love and respect to our sov- 
ereign.” 

Then he laid the heavy bag in the hand of the 
King. 

“We, thy faithful subjects,” he continued, “ of the 


158 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


sect of the Mennonites, having heard of the great 
misfortunes which it has pleased God to permit, have 
gladly contributed this little sum which we beg our 
beloved King and ruler to accept, and we desire to 
assure him that the prayers of his faithful Mennonites 
shall not fail for him and his.” 

The wife then placed a basket in the hands of Queen 
Louisa. 

“ I have heard,” said this kind woman, “ that our 
good Queen likes good fresh butter very much, and 
that the little Princes and Princesses eat bread and 
butter very heartily, so I have made some myself, which 
is very fresh and good, and that is very rare just now, 
so I thought it might be acceptable. My gracious Queen 
will not despise this humble gift. This I see already 
in thy true and friendly features. Oh, how glad I am 
to have seen thee once so near and, face to face, have 
spoken with thee ! ” 

Queen Louisa took the basket, with tears in her 
lovely eyes. 

“Dear Frau Nicholls,” she cried, her face all warm 
with gratitude, “ I thank you many, many times, and 
over and over.” 

Then she took off the handsome shawl she wore 
and threw it about the shoulders of the Mennonite 


woman. 


THE MOTHER OF HER PEOPLE 159 

“ Dear Frau Nicholls,” she said, 44 keep this in re- 
membrance of me.” 

For answer the good woman burst out into speeches 
of pity for the misfortunes of the poor King. 

But his Majesty, interrupting her with a kind smile, 
lifted his hand to check her. 

44 No, no, Frau Nicholls,” he said, 44 I am not a poor 
King. I am a rich King, blessed with such subjects.” 

Then he and the Queen sent many messages to the 
poor Mennonites, and, when the two had gone, promised 
each other that when good times again would come they 
would not fail to reward them, and the King did not 
forget it. 

To Memel, too, came Prince William, the King’s 
brother, and his wife the Princess Marianne. They had 
fled from Dantzic, and their only little daughter, the 
tiny Princess Amelia, had died of cold on the way. 

Sometimes the children of the 44 Stork’s Nest ” saw 
this poor lady walking with the Queen, and they all 
gazed at her with great interest because her name was 
the same as Marianne’s. 

Ludwig Brandt remained, too, in Memel, and was 
much with the Englishmen and went almost every day 
to the reception room of the old Countess von Voss, 
where the talk was the hottest against Napoleon. 

44 The Prussians,” he told the Professor, 44 may be 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


160 

conquered, but never will they forgive Napoleon’s treat- 
ment of the Queen. There he went too far.” 

He further told the Professor, but this was a secret, 
that the students of Konigsberg were forming plans by 
which they hoped to defeat Napoleon. He was concerned 
in this affair and hoped to do more that way than by 
joining the army. 

And so the days passed at Memel. Often the children 
saw the Queen walking, or taking the air in one of the 
high-runner sleighs. Carl and Otto and the Princes were 
often together, and Marianne and Pauline assisted with 
the lint. There was no stiffness as about a court. They 
all had become friends in the time of trouble. 

Then, presently, the Professor went to Konigsberg 
to fulfil his duties as Professor. 

“ But remain here with Joachim, dear wife,” he said. 
“ Who knows that the French will not advance upon 
Konigsberg? You know now that Wolf and Rudolph 
are safe, so you can rest here and not worry.” 

The Queen also went to Konigsberg to visit her sister, 
Frederika, who had married the Prince of Solms and 
lived in that city. 

But the Professor was right. 

After a brave siege the fine city of Dantzic fell. 
Again Napoleon was conqueror, and back in haste came 
the Professor and back came the poor Queen, flying 


THE MOTHER OF HER PEOPLE 161 
again to Memel, whose cold winds so disagreed with her. 
With them came news so dreadful that Marianne felt 
that never in her life could she be happy again. Napo- 
leon had won the bloody victory of Friedland. Not a 
French cannon had missed its aim. Like ninepins, the 
enemy had fallen. Fleeing, the Russians, weighed down 
by their arms and heavy uniforms, had rushed into the 
nearby river and the waves had been as cruel to them as 
Napoleon’s guns. 

With the dead was Wolfgang, curly-haired, merry 
Wolf, the one ever ready with a laugh, ever making 
jokes, playing tunes on his fiddle, waiting on his mother, 
teasing the twins, laughing at Marianne, Wolf who had 
been the favourite of all the family. 

“ Ach Gott, ach Gott, ach Gott ! ” wept poor Madame 
von Stork, and she beat the wings of her love and re- 
fused to be comforted. 

When the Queen heard that the Professor had lost a 
fine young son and that his wife was so overcome with 
her sorrow, she went like a friend to see her and to 
comfort her. 

Madame von Stork felt the honour of the visit, but 
not even a visit from a Queen could make her cease 
weeping. 

With gentle words her Majesty tried to comfort her. 
She told her of the bravery of Countess Dohna von 


162 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Finkenstein, whom she had seen in Konigsberg. Four 
sons had she sent to battle, and when they returned 
wounded, she had sent them forth again. 

We must trust in God, dear Madame von Stork,” 
the Queen’s eyes glowed. “ I know that He will not 
desert us, no, not even after this dreadful battle of 
Friedland. Dear Madame, think what it means to me. 
Napoleon is in Konigsberg now, and I can return no 
more, and we must perhaps quit our kingdom and fly 
for safety to Riga in Russia. But in spite of this, as 
I have written my dear father, I beg you in the name of 
God, to believe that we? are in the hands of God. It is 
my firm belief that He will send us nothing beyond what 
we are able to bear. All power, dear Madame, comes 
from on high. My faith shall not waver, though after 
this dreadful misfortune I can no longer hope. To live 
or die in the path of duty — to live on bread and salt if 
it must be so — would never bring supreme unhappiness 
to me. Let us trust then, dear Madame, in the God who 
sends us good and permits the evil that in all things we 
may be drawn nearer to Him and His love.” 

Though the Queen’s sweet voice trembled, though her 
eyes said, “ I sorrow with you,” Madame von Stork 
would not be comforted. 

“ Majesty,” she said, thinking only of her own grief, 
“ have you lost a son ? ” 

The Queen’s eyes filled, her lips trembled like a child’s. 


THE MOTHER OF HER PEOPLE 163 

“ I have lost one son,” she said, “ and a dear little 
daughter.” 

Then Madame von Stork remembered, and forgot 
her grief for the first time. 

The Queen’s face changed. She looked as if the whole 
sorrow of Prussia had crushed her. 

<fi But, dear Madame,” she said, her figure drooping, 
“ I am the Queen, and I have lost your son and every 
Prussian woman’s son, also. Am I not the Mother of 
my People? You have lost one son. I, the Queen, have 
lost thousands. Each mother’s grief is mine and, oh, 
my God, how am I to bear it? Was not your Wolfgang 
mine, also ? ” 

She touched her heart beating quickly beneath her 
dress. 

“ Dear Madame, pity your Queen and believe her. 
Here is a wound which nothing can heal. It has ached 
day and night since the battle of Jena. I am Rachel, 
indeed, weeping for my children.” 

When the Professor met his wife an hour later, a new 
look shone in her eyes. 

“ I was forgetting you, dear Richard,” she said, 
“ Wolfgang is gone, Franz is gone, but I have you and 
the children.” 

Then she laid her hand on his arm. 

“ Our Queen has been here, dear husband, and she is 
an angel.” 


CHAPTER XII 


OTTO 

In the winter Marianne had gone often to court. There 
was much need of lint and the ladies were always occupy- 
ing themselves with making it. 

The old Countess, who had known Marianne’s grand- 
mother well in her youth, made a pet of the pretty girl, 
and the ladies and gentlemen f ound her bright talk very 
amusing as they worked away in the rooms of the 
Mistress of Court Ceremonies, or in those of the 
Queen. 

But Wolfgang’s death changed everything. 

“ I shall never be gay again,” wept poor Marianne. 

At first she was for staying in her room and writing 
out her sorrow, but one day the Queen, whom she 
adored, had a talk with her. 

What she said no one knew, but from that day Mari- 
anne began to think of others. And certainly there 
was need of patience in the “ Stork’s Nest.” So much 
trouble made them all nervous, and the children, not hav- 
ing Madame von Stork’s eye upon them, grew cross and 
very restless. 

And the affairs of Prussia were in as bad a way as 


164 . 


OTTO 165 

possible. After the disaster at Friedland on the 14th 
of June, Marshal Soult entered Konigsberg, the King 
and the Czar fled to Tilsit, and the country waited to 
see now what would happen. Talk of peace began to be 
heard in all quarters. 

“ But let us not despair,” said Ludwig Brandt to the 
Professor. 44 Prussia is conquered, but all through our 
land a spirit is rising against Napoleon*. Stein and our 
best generals, our orators, our poets declare that the 
tyrant must be overcome and their burning words are 
stirring the people. Bliicher, for instance, Richard, has 
declared that when a whole people are resolved to eman- 
cipate themselves from foreign domination they will 
never fail to succeed. I foresee that fortune will not al- 
ways favour the Emperor,” he said, 44 the time may come 
when Europe in a body, humiliated by his exactions, ex- 
hausted by his depredations, will rise up in arms against 
him. Then,” Ludwig’s face changed, 44 there is the en- 
thusiasm in our Universities.” 

The Professor nodded. 

Before, however, he could answer, in came poor 
Madame von Stork, her face full of fresh trouble. 

44 Richard,” she said, 44 Ludwig, have either of you 
seen Otto ? ” 

Both shook their heads and went on with their talk. 

44 Bettina ! ” called the lady. 


166 TWO ROYAL FOES 

In tripped the little girl, her face eager and inter- 
ested. 

“ Dear child,” asked Madame von Stork, “ have you 
seen Otto ? 99 

Bettina thought that he had gone to Frau Arge- 
lander’s to see the Crown Prince, who had a room there. 

“ No, no,” said Pauline, who came in at the moment, 
“ Carl went alone. The Royal children wished to roast 
potatoes and Otto said that was too childish.” 

Dusk came, and no Otto. 

“ Carl, Carl,” his mother cried when at last he re- 
turned with the servant, “ where is your brother 
Otto?” 

Carl’s face flushed. 

“ He told me not to tell until bedtime.” 

“ You must,” cried his mother. 

Carl brought a dirty little note from his pocket and 
handed it to his father. 

When the Professor read it he grew white to the lips. 

“The foolish, foolish boy,” he said, “why could he 
not have asked me ? ” 

The frightened family cried out for news of what had 
happened. 

When Madame von Stork heard it she was distracted. 

Otto had run away. He was sixteen now, and he had 
gone to fight against Napoleon. So he wrote his father. 


OTTO 167 

66 1 did not tell you or mother,” he said, 44 because 
you would have prevented me. But my country needs 
me. Ask Cousin Ludwig.” 

The Professor tried to comfort his wife. He told her 
that peace must be made in a month, that Otto could do 
nothing, but still she wept on. 

By morning she was so ill that the Professor brought 
a doctor. 

46 Nervous fever,” he said, 44 brought on by this cli- 
mate and worry.” 

44 1 will nurse mother,” cried Marianne, her heart all 
full of a new desire to be helpful. 

44 Nonsense,” said her father. 44 Pauline is much more 
reliable. No, no, Mariechen, I couldn’t trust you,” and 
he left the room. 

44 It is my mother. I love her. It is my right ! ” burst 
our Marianne, her cheeks crimson. 

But Madame von Stork decided it. 

44 1 should go crazy with you, Marianne,” she said. 
44 You would be reading when I needed my medicine. I 
am sorry, dear child,” she smiled to soften the lesson, 
44 but I am nervous, very nervous, and I must have a 
thoughtful person. Pauline, you know, remembers.” 

Marianne rushed to her room. In a flood of bitter 
tears she flung herself on her couch. There in rows on 
their shelves stood her books. How she hated them ! 


168 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Seizing one, she flew to the kitchen, her cheeks blaz- 
ing. In a rage she opened the door of the stove. She 
thrust in “ The Sorrows of Werther.” With a blaze 
it ascended on the air of Memel in smoke, the maid 
staring in wonder. Marianne tore back to her room. 
She flung herself face downward on her couch. 

<c It is my mother, not Pauline’s,” she sobbed, and she 
wept for an hour. 

Worn out at last, she rose to bathe her face in cold 
water. 

On her chest of drawers stood a little picture that a 
lady of the court had given to her. 

Marianne started. A flush dyed her face as she gazed 
into the blue eyes of the Queen. She who loved books 
above all things, put them aside without a word if the 
King, if the Royal children, if the ladies wanted her. 
She was never well, but was always helping others, al- 
ways forgetting what she wanted, what pleased her, that 
she might do her duty. 

<c Dear Marianne,” again the girl heard her voice as 
it had soothed her after the death of her brother Wolf- 
gang, u there is no trouble in which the dear God will 
not help us.” 

All the demons of self and anger and dislike of 
Pauline ceased to struggle in Marianne, as she remem- 
bered. She would be good, she had promised Queen 


OTTO 169 

Louisa. She hesitated a moment, then she bowed her 
head and whispered a little prayer that the dear God 
would help her and make her good like the Queen who 
so loved Him. 

Then she went below, all worn out with her battle, 
but quiet and humble and wishing to help her mother. 

And certainly there was need of her. 

Carl and Ilse and Elsa were quarrelling violently, 
Bettina with frightened face struggling to quiet them. 
She had on her little apron and had brought dishes to 
try and set the table for supper. Marianne’s face 
flushed. Pauline was above, nursing her mother, Bettina 
below, trying to quiet the children and get supper for 
the Professor, and she, the daughter of the “ Stork’s 
Nest,” had been in her room in a temper. She took the 
dishes from Bettina and she separated Carl and the 
twins. For an hour she sat with them telling them 
stories. Then her eye fell on a volume of Goethe lying 
on a table where her father had left it. 

A half hour later the Professor opened the door. His 
face darkened. 

“ Marianne,” he said, “I expected better things of 
you.” 

With a start the girl laid down her book. Carl and 
Ilse were squabbling over the last piece of cake on the 
table, Elsa was looking at a valuable book with sticky 


170 TWO ROYAL FOES 

fingers, the clock had stopped for want of winding, and 

Bettina had vanished into the garden. 

Marianne flushed hotly. 

“ I am trying, father,” she said, “ very ” 

Without a word he left the room, his face stem with 
displeasure. 

Putting the book aside, Marianne wound the clock, 
she sent the children to bed, and sought Bettina in the 
garden. 

“ I will do better,” she promised herself, and next 
day she remembered much better. 

But it was hard to keep the children quiet in the 
evening. She told all the stories she could think of, and 
they only clamoured for more. 

One evening a bright thought struck her. 

She ran to her room and came back with a fat, 
red book whose brass clasp she unlocked with a tiny 
key. 

“ Now, Use and Elsa,” she said, “ get your tent- 
stitch. Bettina, I would not knit. Work on that strip 
for a bed-spread. Carlchen, draw some pictures and I 
will read you a lovely book about our Queen.” 

Then she told them that their Aunt Erna, who had 
died when she was sixteen, had written it and it would 
give them a story of how happy the Queen was before 
Napoleon came into Prussia. 


OTTO 171 

Then she arranged the candles, and all settled to 
listen. 

The Professor, passing through the room, this time 
smiled on Marianne. 

“Where are the children, Richard? What are they 
doing? ” cried nervous Madame von Stork as he opened 
the door of her room. 

When he told her, the worry faded from her poor ill 
face. 

“ God be praised, dear husband,” she said, “ that our 
Marianne is improving. It was hard to refuse her the 
nursing, but I hoped the lesson might rouse her, and I 
was right.” 

Then, smiling at her husband, she sank back on her 
pillow and soon was enjoying her first restful sleep. 


CHAPTER XIII 
THE JOURNAL 

Marianne had first heard of her Aunt Erna’s journal 
in Berlin. 

It had been on the night when Ludwig Brandt had 
come in with the news that the French had made the 
French Consul, Napoleon, Emperor. 

When he had told his news the children with glowing 
faces informed him that their Carl had been kissed that 
very day by the Queen. 

Ludwig, who was always serious, called the little fel- 
low to his knee. Marianne never forgot how solemn it 
all was. 

“Listen, my little Carl,” he said, and waited until 
the laughter had all died from the chubby dimpled face, 
“ a great and noble woman has kissed you. All your 
life think of it as a kiss of baptism. The call of war 
will come to you as to all Germans. Let the kiss of 
the Queen make of you a brave, a true, a patriotic 
soldier ! ” 

How Ludwig’s voice had rung through the room 
and how Pauline had gazed in admiration! And then 
Ludwig had taken little Carl on his knee and told him a 
172 


THE JOURNAL 173 

nice little story of Queen Louisa, of when she had gone 
with her husband on his Huldigung, the journey Ger- 
man sovereigns take to receive the oaths of allegiance 
in their provinces and cities. 

In the village of Stargard, in Pomerania, Ludwig 
related, the good people who had arranged the welcome 
had dressed little girls in white that they might strew 
flowers before the new young Queen, and the quick eye 
of the Queen noticed that, as there were nineteen, one 
must walk alone. 

She turned to the grown people. 

“ Where is the twentieth?” she demanded, and her 
face grew crimson with anger when she heard their an- 
swer. 

“ Majesty,” they said, “the child was so ugly that 
we sent her home.” 

“ Poor child ! ” cried the Queen, “ poor child ! Send 
for her, and at once!” she commanded. 

And when the poor little thing appeared, her plain, 
pale face all wet with tears, Queen Louisa held out her 
arms as she would to One of her own Royal children. 

“ Come, Liebchen,” she said, “ come at once to me. 
Tell me your trouble, every bit of it.” 

And then she petted her and praised her and drove 
away all the little thing’s shame and tearfulness and 
told her stories of the Crown Prince, and the little girl 


1 74 TWO ROYAL FOES 

forgot all about her ugliness and the people’s cruelty. 
But to the grown people Queen Louisa was very stern, 
as she could be when it was necessary. 

“Was my coming,” and she looked at them until 
they blushed, “ to be made a cause of sad memories to 
a dear little girl only because of her ugliness ? ” 

“ Our Queen is an angel,” said Madame von Stork 
as Ludwig ended. 

Then Marianne told stories, also, of things she had 
heard of the Queen at Frau Rat Goethe’s. 

“ Bettina Brentano,” she began, “ is a friend of the 
mother of our Goethe ! ” 

“ My goodness,- Marianne ! ” cried Franz, who was 
home in those days, “ don’t pronounce that name as 
if it were sacred ! ” 

But Marianne paid no heed to him. 

“ Frau Rat,” she continued, with a toss of her head, 
“ loves our Queen with all her heart. She has known her 
since she was as old as Carl. Once, when she and her 
sister, the Princess Frederika, were little girls, they 
came to Frankfort to the coronation of the Emperor 
Leopold.” 

Then, while Carl crowded to her knee and even her 
father stopped his reading to listen, Marianne told how, 
one day, the two princesses came to visit Frau Rat with 
their Swiss governess, Fraulein de Gelieu, and of how 


THE JOURNAL 175 

in Frau Rat’s garden was a pump which at once at- 
tracted the princesses. 

Little Louisa, who loved the old lady, and was not a 
bit afraid of her in spite of the great turban she wore, 
whispered in her ear how much she would enjoy pumping 
like a common child. 

The mother of Goethe nodded. She had no taste for 
prim etiquette and saw no real reason why the little 
princesses should not enjoy themselves. 

“ Come, dear Fraulein de' Gelieu,” said she to the 
governess. “ Come into my saal. I will show you my 
beautiful snuffbox with the picture of my famous son 
upon it.” 

Then, leading the lady, she softly locked the door 
and Louisa and Frederika, running to the pump, clung 
to the handle, and pumped and pumped until the water 
ran in streams and splashed their stockings and elastic 
strap slippers, and made them for once enjoy them- 
selves quite as if they had not been princesses. 

When time for good-byes came the two happy little 
girls threw loving arms around the neck of this kind 
Frau Rat and grateful little lips whispered thanks for 
her kindness, telling her that never, never, never would 
they forget their joy in being permitted to play like 
other children. “Never, dear Frau Rat, never!” they 
cried. 


176 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


Nor did Louisa, at any rate. 

“ Frau Rat,” concluded Marianne, “ showed me one 
day the most beautiful gold ornaments she had only a 
few months before received as a -nresent from our 
Queen, who really loves her.” 

A second time Louisa visited Frankfort-on-Main. It 
was two years later when, Leopold being dead, Francis, 
the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, came to 
receive the crown which, in 1806, just before the battle 
of Jena, he resigned forever. 

At that time the Princess and her brother Carl came 
to supper with Frau Rat Goethe. 

There was omelette, very light and delicious, and 
famous bacon salad, a dish much loved in that day 
throughout Germany. 

“ Oh, how fine ! ” cried Carl and the princess, and 
when they stopped eating there was not even so much 
as a half leaf left on either plate ! 

All her life Frau Rat loved to tell about this, and 
Marianne related how she joked when she told the 
story. 

“ And, mother,” said Marianne, “ Frau Rat told me 
that our Queen, though she was then a princess, made 
her own satin shoes for the coronation.” 

Madam von Stork beamed approval. 

She opened her lips to impress the importance of 


THE JOURNAL 177 

sewing upon Marianne, but the young girl was too 
quick for her. 

“Frau Rat, father, says that our Queen reads both 
Goethe and Schiller always.” 

Before Madame von Stork could answer, the maid 
appeared with wine and cake, and, when all were set- 
tled, Marianne had told more stories about Goethe’s 
mother and what a fine old lady she was, but so amus- 
ing in her great turban, with its red, white and blue 
feathers, or great decoration of sunflowers, with her 
hair all arranged and plaited with ribbons, her face 
rouged, her embroidered kid gloves, her rings, and her 
famous speech: 

“ I am the mother of Goethe ! ” 

When Marianne told all this she altered her voice 
and put on what her brothers called her “ Goethe man- 
ner,” and, turning to Herr Brandt, she exclaimed: 

“ Oh, Uncle Ludwig, the Frau Rat showed me her 
son’s playthings and the dresses he wore as a child. Oh, 
think of my touching, my handling what his noble 
hands have rested upon ! Oh, how it thrilled, how it over- 
powered me ! ” 

The boys burst into a roar, but her father with a 
glance quieted them. 

“ And what is Frau Rat like, Marianne? ” he asked. 

Delighted to talk on her favorite topic, Marianne 


178 TWO ROYAL FOES 

told how, when the Frau Rat announced, “ I am the 

mother of Goethe,” her voice rang out like a trumpet. 

Ludwig pushed back his glass. 

“ The trumpet we should hear,” he said, “ is the voice 
of her son singing songs of patriotism. Never mind, 
Mariechen,” for Marianne was beginning to cry out, 
“your idol is not entirely perfect. Now, when at last 
we have a literature in Germany, why will not our poets 
rouse our people? The imitation of France is on us like 
a curse. All must be French. We must speak French, 
we must read French, we must despise all things Ger- 
man. I tell you, Richard, it is now the calm before the 
storm. Over Prussia is gathering a cloud and the day 
will come when the sun shall shine no more for us.” 

He arose and paced up and down the floor. 

“ Oh, Ludwig,” cried Madame von Stork, “ come, 
come, sit down and enjoy your doughnuts.” 

But Ludwig Brandt was not to be soothed with cake. 

“ Good-night, Clara,” he said suddenly, and bending, 
kissed Madame von Stork’s hand. 

With an “ Auf wiedersehen,” he departed. 

“ My goodness,” cried Madame von Stork, “ but Lud- 
wig is uncomfortable. Here we were enjoying a quiet, 
happy evening, and in he comes and upsets everything. 
See, Marianne, see, there he has spilt wine on the table- 
cloth. It is the English in him which makes him so sol- 


THE JOURNAL 


179 


emn. Perhaps if dear Erna had lived she might have 
made him gayer. And speaking of Erna, Marianne, 
you are old enough to read you dear aunt’s journal. It 
is really a history of our dear Queen the child kept to 
please Ludwig. To-morrow, when you visit your grand- 
mother, you must ask her to lend it to you.” 

It was this same journal which Marianne brought 
forth in the sitting room. 

Before she could begin reading Elsa and Ilse crowded 
to her side. 

“Sister,” they said, “tell Bettina what happened 
when you took us to grandmother’s and she gave you 
the book, won’t you?” 

Marianne laughed. 

“ We had cherry compote for supper,” she said, “ and 
we all had some, and Otto whispered to Wolf that he 
could keep more stones in his mouth than Wolf could, 
and all the others heard and in whispers they all dared 
each other, and they kept on eating and eating until 
their cheeks were quite puffy.” 

Bettina laughed gaily. 

“ And there was company,” put in Elsa. 

“ And grandmother asked Otto a question,” said Ilse. 

“ And then ” Carl shouted. 

“ Otto couldn’t keep his in ” 

“ And Wolf laughed ” 


180 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“And, oh, Bettina, it was awful! Stones shot every- 
where out of everybody’s mouth and oh, grandmother ! 99 
She held up her hands. 

Bettina thought this very funny and they all laughed 
and would have made a great noise had not Marianne 
put the tiny key in the brass lock of the red book. 

“ Come, now, be quiet,” she said, “ and I will begin 
the journal of our Aunt Ema.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


PRINCESS LOUISA 

“First,” said Marianne with an air of great importance, 
“ I will tell you about the family of our Queen.” 

All the children looked up with eagerness. 

“ Her name,” continued Marianne, “ is Louisa Au- 
gusta Wilhelmina Amelia. Her father is the Duke Carl 
of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Her mother, who died when 
she was six years old, was a Princess of Hesse-Darm- 
stadt.” 

Here Marianne paused. 

“ It is important, children, that you should know 
these things of our Queen,” she informed them, look- 
ing very wise and grown up. “ Her name, the mother’s, 
I mean, was Frederika Caroline Louisa. Now our 
Queen — I learned this to tell you — was born in the old 
castle of Hanover, March 10, 1776. Her father was 
the governor there for his brother-in-law, who is king 
of — where, Ilse ? ” 

Both twins shook their heads. 

“ Carl? ” 

“ Go on, Mariechen,” said he, “ don’t be a teacher.” 

But Marianne had her plans. 

181 


182 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Bettina? ” 

44 Oh, England,” said the little girl, who had learned 
this from something she had heard Mr. Jackson say. 

44 Go on, Mariechen,” urged Carl. 

Marianne nodded. 

44 When our Queen was six,” she said, 44 her father 
married her aunt, but she died, too, and our Queen 
lived with her grandmother, who took her to Holland, 
and Strasburg, and everywhere she travelled. One day 
she took her to the Rhine and she met the Crown Prince, 
who now is our King. Now, listen to what our dear 
Aunt Erna has written.” 

Marianne opened the red book. 

On the first page was her aunt’s name. 

“Erna Hedwig Anna Marie von Bergman, her jour- 
nal.” 

On the next was the date, 44 Dec. 22, 1793.” 

44 To-day,” read Marianne, 44 we went to see the en- 
trance of our Crown Princess into Berlin. While we 
walked to Unter den Linden, where my Ludwig — I am 
betrothed now to Ludwig — had obtained for us very fine 
seats, he entertained us with stories of this lovely prin- 
cess, who came to-day to our prince. He said everybody 
loved her, and he told me so much of her beauty that 
I was all eagerness to see her enter. 

44 Ludwig said that even when she was a child she 


PRINCESS LOUISA 183 

gained love everywhere. Once, at Darmstadt, the great 
poet, Schiller, was reading aloud from his 4 Don Car- 
los,’ and he felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked up, 
and saw the loveliest little girl, who seemed to under- 
stand every word of his poetry. It was the little Princess 
Louisa, and Schiller smiled on her. To be smiled upon 
by a genius -seems to me to be better than to be Crown 
Princess.” 

Marianne’s face glowed as she read this. 

44 She would have understood me, my Aunt Erma,” 
she thought. 

44 Go on, please, go on,” said Carl. 

44 I said this to Ludwig,” read Marianne, 44 but he told 
me that to be a good housewife was better than either.” 

44 Exactly like him,” she muttered, and then went 
straight on with the journal. 

44 Our Princess, who came to-day, met our Prince at 
Frankfort-on-Main. Our King invited her with her 
grandmother and sister, Frederika, and the very in- 
stant that our Crown Prince saw Princess Louisa he 
said : 4 She or never another.’ A great love was at once 
in his heart. 

44 Every day they were together. Every evening in 
the theatre, and now, to-morrow, they marry. Our Prince 
Louis marries Princess Louisa’s sister, Frederika. I 
find that lovely. 


184 TWO ROYAL FOES 

“ They were betrothed at Darmstadt. Our King, who 
is such a jolly, joking man, gave them their rings. 
6 God bless you, children,’ he said, and all the people 
said : 6 Amen.’ 

“We thought there would be no marriage for a long 
time, for the King would not have it because of the war 
with France. But something changed his mind, and so 
to-day Berlin was decorated for the entry of the Prin- 
cess. 

“It was so fine I can hardly write about it. The 
whole of Berlin was decorated with flags. There were 
flags of Prussia, of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and of 
the Holy Roman Empire. They were everywhere, on 
the Rathaus, across buildings, in windows. There were 
evergreens, too, and in all my life I have never seen such 
a Christmas Markt. The open place was all full of 
booths with fir trees in the centre. We started early 
enough for me to buy a few things for our Christmas 
tree. 

“ It was hard to choose. I wanted laces and I wanted 
Swiss carvings, and I wanted French bonbons, but at 
last at one booth I bought honey cakes, at another, the 
dearest gingerbread images of the Prince and Princess, 
at another, a chocolate group of the four royalties, 
and some lace and toys for the tree. 

“The streets were so full we could hardly push our 


PRINCESS LOUISA 185 

way through the throng of hunters in green, Berliners 
and peasants all in their Sunday costumes and gold or- 
naments. 

M People were in all the windows, hanging over bal- 
conies and pushing and pressing in the streets. We 
reached our places just as the 4 Berliner Citizens’ Bri- 
gade 5 formed in lines up Leipzigerstrasse to the cor- 
ner of Wilhelmstrasse. 

44 We were quite near the big arch where the Prin- 
cesses were to be welcomed. 

44 It was splendid. There were three divisions in the 
arch, all decorated with flowers and statues and pictures 
and words of welcome. 

44 One figure was Hymen, who is the god of marriage, 
and there were two bridal wreaths, because of the 
double wedding. 

44 4 Look, Erma,’ said mother, and there, among the 
little French boys in green suits sitting on the arch, 
was Francis de Ballore, and among the lovely little 
German girls in white with pink sashes and wreaths of 
roses, I saw Hedwig Riickert, Elise Stege, and Annchen 
Romeike. 

44 4 One of them,’ explained Ludwig, 4 is to recite a 
poem of welcome.’ 

44 It was dreadfully tiresome standing in that great 
crowd, but at last came the procession. 


186 TWO ROYAL FOES 

“ There was a sound of horns, and six splendid horses 
walking with the greatest stateliness entered Unter den 
Linden. On them were the Royal Post Secretaries. Then 
came postilions in splendid uniforms, and after them 
the carriers in blue. The postilions, there were forty 
of them, Ludwig said, were all blowing horns, and I felt 
sorry, indeed, for the carriers. I liked the next thing 
very much. It was the Hunters’ Guild, and they wore 
green costumes with peach-blossom facings. But the 
next after the hunters was splendid. It was dozens of 
young Berliners dressed as knights of the Middle Ages. 

“The people cried out: c Enchanting ! ’ ‘Wonder- 
ful!’ and I said to Ludwig that I wished men dressed 
that way now and not in ugly every-day knee breeches 
and ruffled coats. 

“ But Ludwig only told me that armour would be in- 
convenient, and made fun. But I think so, just the same. 
What is there romantic about a queue, or slipper buck- 
les, and knee breeches? Nothing at all. 

“ It was fun to see how important the Brewers and 
Distillers looked in blue. The merchants and their sons 
wore red, and after them came Frederick the Great’s 
fine Royal Guard, and they all arranged themselves 
in two lines for the carriages to enter. 

“ The Berliners refused to have Royal Chamberlains 
about the carriages. 


PRINCESS LOUISA 187 

‘“We want to see the Princesses, not Chamberlains,’ 
they said. 

“ Ludwig named the people to me. 

“ The handsome, white-haired lady with bright, 
sparkling eyes, was the Countess von Voss, the Mistress 
of Court Ceremonies, who had gone to Potsdam to meet 
the Princess. There was the Duke, and the grandmother, 
and the brother of the Princesses, and the Maids of 
Honour, the two Ladies Vieregg, and Master of Court 
Ceremonies von Schulden. 

“We could hardly see them for the crowd, and there 
was a woman near me who talked so much I could hardly 
hear Ludwig. She said that her husband was a member 
of the Guild of Butchers and he had marched to Pots- 
dam, which was splendidly decorated, in a brown suit 
with gold shoulder-bands and a gold-figured vest and 
splendid red galoon hat with lace trimming. They gave 
the first welcome to the Princesses and, goodness knows, 
the butcher’s wife was proud of it. 

“But at last she was still, for in a splendid gold 
coach drawn by eight horses came the two brides. 

“ They are so beautiful I cannot describe them. 

“ They are both slender and very graceful, and they 
both have blue eyes and golden hair, but if you once 
see Princess Louisa, you can never look again at Prin- 
cess Frederika. 


188 TWO ROYAL FOES 

“ The people were enchanted. 

“ ‘ Never have we seen such eyes, never,’ was all we 
heard, for the Princess turned as she stepped on the 
platform and smiled right at us. 

“ They were blue and true, and oh, they are so dif- 
ferent from other people’s that I do not know how to 
tell it. They seem to say : c I love you, I love you.’ 

“ The sweetest thing happened. 

“The prettiest little baby girl in white and pink, 
with a wreath of roses on her curls, came out on the 
platform to welcome the Princess. She was like a round- 
cheeked cherub, and she carried a bouquet of roses al- 
most as big as herself. It was a poem she said of great 
big grown-up words, and her mouth was so tiny that 
it made everybody smile just to see her. 

“ 6 When thou appearest,’ she began, and kept duck- 
ing her little head and then smiling at the Princess and 
looking out of the corners of her eyes. 

“ I have never seen anything half so pretty. 

“ And when she was through, what did she do but 
just stand and look at the Princess and smile, as much 
as to say: ‘ And how, dear Princess, do you like it? ’ 

“ And then what did our new Princess do but spring 
forward, catch the little round-cheeked thing in her 
arms and hug and kiss her as if not a soul was looking. 

“ ‘ You darling! ’ she said. 


PRINCESS LOUISA 


189 


“ The people were just wild. 

“ 6 She will not only be our Queen , 5 said the woman 
who talked so much , 6 she will be a mother to her people . 5 

“ But the Mistress of Court Ceremonies was shocked. 

“ We could hear what she said, quite distinctly. 

“ 4 My heavens ! 5 she cried, and her voice was so full 
of horror that even Ludwig laughed, 6 what has Your 
Highness done? That is against all etiquette . 5 

“ Then our Princess turned just like a girl. 

“ 4 What ! 5 she cried, and I never heard a voice so 
sweet and like a silver bell, * may I not do such things 
any more? 5 

“ 4 She is adorable , 55 said Monsieur de Paillot, who 
was standing quite near mother. 

“ ‘ She is an angel , 5 said the woman who talked so 
much . 55 

“ Why, Mariechen , 55 interrupted Elsa, “ that’s what 
everybody now calls her . 55 

Marianne nodded. 

“ Go on , 55 commanded Carl, whose blue eyes were quite 
eager with listening. 

“After that , 55 went on the journal, “the Princesses 
went to the palace, where the Princes were waiting. 
We had to wait for the crowd to thin, and Monsieur 
de Paillot and Ludwig fell to talking. He is a French 
refugee, I think. Berlin is full of them. 


190 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


44 4 Monsieur,’ he said to Ludwig, 6 this parade to- 
day recalls another that I saw when a Princess came, 
also, to my kingdom.’ 

“ We all listened politely. 

44 4 She came, my friends,’ he said, 4 from Vienna, that 
Princess. Her bridegroom was the Dauphin of France. 
She, also, was beautiful.’ 

44 He looked so solemn he took all the pleasure from 
our procession. 

44 A queer wrinkle came in his forehead and he looked 
almost like a revolutionist. 

44 4 Many things have come to pass,’ he said, 4 since 
I first saw that Queen of France.’ 

44 It was Marie Antoinette, I knew it, then. Poor 
lady, the wicked French have beheaded her. 

44 Monsieur de Paillot looked at me sternly. 

44 4 These are troubled times,’ he said. 4 Old things 
are passing, new things are being born. Ours is a day 
of revolutions, of changes. There has been a struggle 
for liberty in America. I had the honour, as you know, 
of fighting with the noble Lafayette in the Colonies. I 
have seen Washington. I have talked with Thomas 
Jefferson, with the learned Franklin. You, here in Prus- 
sia, still have serfs, no constitution, and no patriotism. 
In America, the women went in homespun, the men 
starved at Valley Forge, and all for the rights of man. 


PRINCESS LOUISA 191 

But here, pardon me, Madame, but is it not true that 
you borrow your language, your customs, everything 
from France? I fear that lovely young Princess may 
suffer.’ 

44 Mother was furious. So was I. But Ludwig nodded. 

“ 4 You are right, Monsieur, quite right,’ he said, and 
I think that horrid in him, even if he will be my husband. 

44 4 Monsieur,’ I said, 4 was the Queen of France as 
beautiful as our Princess? ’ 

44 Then he made me a grand bow that made me think 
he was not quite so horrid. 

44 4 Mademoiselle,’ he said, 4 1 have never seen so 
lovely a woman as this Princess of Mecklenburg-Stre- 
litz, never.’ ” 

When Marianne read this the children stopped her. 

44 Was that our Queen?” asked Carl. 

44 Of course,” said lisa, 44 first she was Crown Prin- 
cess, then our Queen.” 

At that moment the maid brought in the supper. 

44 To-morrow night,” said Marianne, 44 1 will read 
you the next things that happened. Come, now, Bettina, 
you may pass the bread, and Use, you and Elsa sit 
here one on each side of me, and Carl, you may be 
father.” 

44 It is nice, Mariechen,” said Use, 44 to have you 
take care of us.” 


192 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Yes,” said Elsa. 

“ I love you, Marichen,” and Carl hugged her until 
she was nearly strangled. 

Marianne, her eyes dancing, was glad that she was 
trying to be better. It made her happier, she found, 
than even “ The Sorrows of Werther.” 


CHAPTER XV 
THE MARRIAGE 

“ Now,” said Marianne, next evening, 66 I will read 
again in the journal. Are you ready, children?” 

And she glanced around the little group. 

There were the twins with their tent stitch, Carl with 
his pencil and drawing book, Bettina with her knit- 
ting. 

Marianne smiled and settled herself most impor- 
antly. 

<c Carl,” she said, “ bring another candle. Elsa, will 
you please draw closer the window curtain, and Bettina, 
child, sit nearer the light. Now, ready? ” 

“ Our Princess,” began the journal, “ was married 
last night, Christmas Eve, in this year of 1793. When 
mother lit our tree and my sister Clarechen’s children, 
Franz and Wolfgang, were clapping their little hands 
in joy, Ludwig lifted his hand. 

“ 4 Our Crown Prince has a wife now,’ he said, and 
glanced at the clock. 

“ Baron von Sternberg, an old friend of my father’s, 
came to-day to see mother and told us all that hap- 
pened last night, for he was at the wedding. 

193 


194 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ He said that our new Crown Princess was most 
beautiful in white with a crown of sparkling diamonds 
that the Queen herself had placed on her lovely golden 
head. Before she was married, the widow of the Great 
Frederick gave her a blessing, the blessing of an old 
woman, she said. Then came the wedding in the Ritter 
Saal. The altar was beneath a baldachin of purple vel- 
vet embroidered in crowns of gold, and hundreds of 
candles made a splendid light. Oh, how I should love 
to have seen all the velvets and jewels and the fine ladies 
with powdered hair and the men with their clothes of 
fine velvet ! 

“ 1 long for the Court, and because of my father’s 
fine position, I could go there, but my mother will not 
have it. 

“ No, she says, it is wicked there. Our King is too 
gay, and she told me a sad story of the Countess von 
Yoss, the lady I saw in the procession, and who, it seems, 
is mother’s old friend from girlhood. This lady went 
to Court very young and the King’s brother fell in 
love with her, and it was all so unfortunate, for 
he must marry a Princess, and the Countess, her 
cousin. 

“ But the wedding. 

“ Ober-Consistorial Rath Sack performed the cere- 
mony, for he had both baptised and confirmed our 


THE MARRIAGE 195 

Crown Prince. The Berliners wished a fine illumina- 
tion, but the Crown Prince would not have it. 

“ 6 Nay, nay, good Berliners,’ he said, 4 give the 
money to the widows and orphans of the soldiers killed 
in the war with France.’ 

“ Ludwig says that he is much worried over the debts 
of his father, the King, who is jolly and beloved of the 
people, but who spends everything he can lay his hands 
on. 

“ After the wedding came the polonaise. It is an old 
custom and takes place at the marriage of every Prus- 
sian Crown Prince. 

“ The pages first bring in torches and present them 
to eighteen ministers of state. Then trumpets sound, 
the royal family rise from the semi-circle in which they 
sit under a baldachin, the Lord Chamberlain gives a 
signal, and the dance begins, all in the light of the 
torches the performers bear with them. 

“ The Baron said that it was most enchanting. The 
King danced with our new Crown Princess, the Crown 
Prince with the Queen and the widow of Frederick the 
Great. Round they marched to the pretty polonaise 
step at the comer of the room, dividing and changing 
partners, the torches blazing, and oh, the lords and 
ladies so fine and grand! 

“ To-day is Christmas, and I was in the old Cathe- 


196 TWO ROYAL FOES 

dral, and who should come in but the Crown Prince and 
Princess? They seem so in love with each other that it 
is beautiful to see. And they are most religious. 

“ As we were coming home from church we met Mon- 
sieur de Paillot. He told us something which filled me 
with the greatest joy. 

“ Our King was not quite pleased with the wedding. 

“ ‘ There were too many embroidered coats, 5 he said, 
c at the second we will have a few commoners. 5 

“ And so the Berliners can go to the wedding of Prince 
Ludwig and Princess Frederika, and my Ludwig will 
take me. Oh, what happiness, for I shall see our Crown 
Princess in her robes and her diamonds. 

“ The dress I wore to the wedding was most beauti- 
ful. A young French girl designed it with the taste and 
skill of her nation. It was made for a great ball at which 
I am to be introduced to society, but mother bade me 
wear it to Court. 

“It was of white tissue, and above the hem of my 
flowing skirt was embroidered a border of fleur-de-lys 
in purple and gold. My kerchief was fine as a web and 
edged with rare lace, and for the first time my hair 
was raised high and powdered. Mother finished my joy 
by clasping about my throat a necklace of purple 
stones. 

“ 6 Your dear father gave them to me when I was 


THE MARRIAGE 197 

a bride,* she said with a sigh, for it is but two years since 
we lost him. 

“ 6 Lovely!* cried my sister Clarechen when she saw 
me, but Ludwig frowned. 

“‘Why French flowers?* he asked, his eyes on the 
fleur-de-lys. Ludwig sees all things. * Why not some- 
thing German and blue? * he asked with great discontent. 

“ Ludwig is very strange in some ways. For one 
thing, he will not speak French, like all well-bred people. 

“ 6 1 am a German,’ he will say, ‘ why not speak my 
own language ? ’ 

“ And he calls mother ‘ Frau,’ and not 6 Madame,’ and 
me ‘ Fraulein,’ and all my notes to him must be written 
in German, and German is so hard, not beautiful, like 
French, and he scolds me when I make more than a dozen 
mistakes in my articles : die , der , das, 

“ But my dress, my lovely, lovely dress ! 

“ It might have been blue, or red, or any colour, for 
all that it mattered. The crowd was so great no one 
looked at poor little Erna von Bergman, and next day 
she spent hours darning a great rent in her skirt. 

“ But I have seen our Crown Princess, and she smiled 
right at me, so what else matters? No one could be- 
head her as the French did Marie Antoinette; no, not 
even for liberty. 

“ She was in white and wore a crown of sparkling 


198 TWO ROYAL FOES 

diamonds. The Crown Prince looked at her as if he 
adored her. He is very earnest and grave, she, very 
bright and gay. There is great love between them, I 
can see that, because of my own love for my Ludwig. 

6i I saw our King at the wedding, and he was most 
amusing. Of late years he has grown very stout, and 
because of his increased size he found it difficult indeed 
to pass through the room with his arm laden with the 
widow of Frederick the Great, our Queen Dowager. 

“ The crowd could not help punching him with their 
elbows. 

“ Think of it ! Even Ludwig nudged our King ! 

“ But he was not the least angry. 

“ He winked, actually winked, and then called out in 
his merry, jolly way: 

“ 6 Don’t be shy, my children. The wedding father 
can have no more room to-day than the guests.’ 

“ The Berliners were delighted. 

<e Our King is a great favourite because of his jokes 
and his calling the people 4 Children.’ 

“ But Ludwig does not admire him. He says one 
should weep to think of such a man wearing the crown of 
the Great Elector, or Frederick the Great, that he is 
like Charles II of England. He believes much in spirits 
and has mediums and such people always about him. 
But he is very benevolent and gives to the poor. 


THE MARRIAGE 199 

“ Oh, it was fine at the wedding ! I saw all the great 
people of the Court, and how I longed to be one of them 
and live in such splendour ! But with torn dress and tired 
feet I came home to our humble dwelling. At least, 
it isn’t so humble — mother would frown at such a word 
* — but one says that when one goes to Court, where all 
is the grandest. . . . 

• • • • • # 

“ I have decided to always put down what I hear of 
our Crown Princess, how the King loves her, and how 
our Crown Prince forgets his sad nature when he is with 
one so happy and gay, and all that the Berliners talk 
about.” 

Here Marianne paused and turned over some pages. 
“ I will skip,” she announced, 6i because all on these 
pages is about other things. To-day I have read it all 
and have marked only that which will interest you.” 

“ There are many things we hear of our Crown Prin- 
cess,” she then read. “ She and the Crown Prince play 
many pranks upon the Countess von Voss, who loves eti- 
quette and ceremony above all things. But that is on 
the surface; in her heart she adores the Crown Prince 
and the Princess Louisa, who is now like her daughter. 
As for them, they are full of mischief. 

<c All Berlin just now is talking of how our Crown 
Prince and Princess say 4 thou ’ and not 6 you 9 to each 


200 TWO ROYAL FOES 

other, according to our sweet German custom of mak- 
ing a difference between friends and strangers. 

“ The Court, when this report spread, cried out in 
horror. It was not according to French etiquette. 

“ The King commanded his son before him. 

“ * What is this I hear? 5 he demanded, * that you call 
the Crown Princess “ thou 55 ? 5 

“ ‘ You hear it upon good grounds, 5 answered our 
Crown Prince, with his slow, good-humoured smile, 
6 when a man says “ du 99 (thou) the person to whom 
he speaks knows whom is being spoken to, but when I 
say “ sie 99 (in German written “ Sie 99 for “ you 99 — 
“ sie 99 for “ they ") who can know whether I say it 
with a capital letter, or not? 5 

“ From the beginning our Crown Prince had ob j ected 
to the formal etiquette which Frederick the Great im- 
posed upon our Prussian Court. He longs always to 
have his home life free from formality. 

“ * I desire with all my heart, 5 said he, * to live as a 
plain person and not as a royal one. 5 

“ One evening the Crown Princess returned from a 
feast, and ridding herself of her finery, ran like a 
girl to her husband. 

“ Clasping her hands, he gazed in her wonderful 
eyes. 

“ * Thank God, 5 he said, ‘ thou art again my wife. 5 


the MARRIAGE 201 

u The Crown Princess’ silvery laugh rang through 
the room. 

66 ‘ What ? ’ she cried , 6 am I not that always ? ’ 

“ The Crown Prince shook his head with an air of 
sad discontent. 

“ ‘ No,’ he said, * thou must so often be Crown Prin- 
cess.’ 

“ The Countess von Voss thought it her duty to bring 
this lively pair to order. 

“‘You do not please me,’ she said one day to the 
Crown Prince. ‘ French etiquette rules all Europe, and 
I, as Court Mistress of Ceremonies, must lecture your 
Royal Highness for seeking the Crown Princess without 
announcement.’ 

“ The Prince made a face and looked as if he were 
going to be stubborn. — I heard all this from Baron 
von Sternberg. — Then suddenly inspired by a secret 
thought, he laughed. 

“ ‘ Good ! ’ he cried like a penitent boy, ‘ dear Voss, I 
will reform. So have the kindness to announce me to 
my wife and ask if I may have the honour of speaking 
with her Royal Highness, the Crown Princess, and ex- 
press my hope that she will graciously grant it.’ 

“ The good Countess beamed her approval. 

“ Now, indeed, was the wayward young man behav- 
ing as he should. 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


202 

44 With dignified steps she sought the apartment of 
the Princess, and was beginning the announcement when 
a laugh interrupted her. 

44 The Crown Prince, laughing as hard as he could, 
sat on the couch with his arm around his wife. 

44 Jumping up, he seated the Countess between them. 
Then he took her hand and spoke quite decidedly. 

44 4 See, dear Voss,’ said he, 4 1 hurried in another 
way to show you that my wife and I see each other un- 
announced and quite as often as we will. That, in my 
opinion, is the only Christian fashion for married peo- 
ple, Royal or commoners. You are our charming Court 
Mistress,’ the Crown Princess gave her one of her en- 
chanting smiles, 4 but Louisa and I have made up a name 
for you. You are now to be Dame Etiquette.’ And all 
Berlin now calls her that. 

44 Dame Etiquette arranged a drive for the Crown 
Prince, the Princess, and herself, only last week, the 
Baron says. She insisted on a grand carriage, with 
bodyguard in costume. Above all the Royal pair hated 
this, but Dame Etiquette firmly commanded the equi- 
page and arrayed in state she seats herself, at the 
Royal command, to await the others. 

44 The Crown Prince, coming out, gave a low order 
to the coachman, and off drove Dame Etiquette alone in 
the splendid state carriage, and behind her the naughty 


THE MARRIAGE 


% 03 


laughing Prince and Princess in a plain two-horse af- 
fair like commoners. All eyes were fixed on her, and 
Louisa and Fritz had as good a time as if they were not 
Royal. 

“ It seems strange to me how we long to be grand like 
princes and all they want is to be like us. 

“ Yesterday was our Crown Princess’ birthday. All 
Berlin has made much of it, but in the palace it was 
grandly celebrated with a fine masquerade ball. 

“ All Berlin talks of what happened in the palace. 
When Princess Louisa came to the King for her birth- 
day kiss he embraced her like a real father and said: 
6 You are the Princess of Princesses, my Louisa.’ 

“ Then a company of Court ladies and gentlemen 
appeared before her, all arrayed as citizens of Oran- 
ienburg. One made a fine speech and presented her 
with a key. 

66 6 Of our castle,’ they said. 6 You are to be its mis- 
tress.’ 

“ Then, amid the excitement, the King explained 
that he gave her the gift of this castle for a sum- 
mer residence. 

“ Ludwig told me that the wife of the Great Elec- 
tor, another Louisa, lived there, and so it is very fitting 
that our Crown Princess have it because of her name. 


204 TWO ROYAL FOES 

66 The King gave our Crown Princess another gift. 

“ At the ball he said quite suddenly to her : 

“ 6 Princess of Princesses, if you had a handful of 
gold, what wish would you grant yourself? ’ 

“ 6 I should make happy the poor of Berlin,’ an- 
swered the birthday child. 

“ ‘ How large, then, must the handful be, Princess 
of Princesses? ’ asked the King with a smile. 

“ c As big as the heart of the best king in the world,’ 
answered our Crown Princess, her eyes dancing. 

<e And now we hear that because of this clever an- 
swer Berlin is to have a fine new charity. 

“ Ludwig says it w^ould be much better if our King 
paid his debts, but I like our King, and so do the 
people.” 

Marianne skipped a little. 

“ Our Crown Prince has gone to Poland. We hear 
much of a brave man called Kosciusko, but Prussia re- 
joices that at last we have defeated him. 

“ To-day seventy-two guns sounding from the pal- 
ace informed us that our dear Crown Princess has a 
son. We are glad, indeed, for she lost her first little 
daughter, who never lived a day. 

“ For godparents our new Prince has the Queen, the 
widow of Frederick the Great, the Prince and Princess 


THE MARRIAGE 205 

Henry, Prince and Princess Ferdinand, and the Crown 
Princess’ father. His name is Frederick William, for 
the King, who held him during the ceremony, when the 
same clergyman who baptised his father gave him his 
name. 

“ Our Crown Princess is more beloved than ever and 
now all Berlin rejoices over her son. 

“ As for me, Ludwig will have it that we marry in a 
year. I will then be sixteen and two years older than 
mother was when she was a bride. There is much to do. 
I must fill my wedding chest with linen and all things 
for my house.” 

“ Our Crown Prince has bought a country home at 
Paretz. He and our Crown Princess long for a simple 
life. We hear much talk of what happens there, how 
they ramble in the woods, seek wild flowers, have supper 
under the trees and spend their days very happily. 

“ Our Crown Princess calls herself 4 Gnadige Frau 
von Paretz (the Gracious Lady of Paretz), and takes 
part in all the village festivities. One evening all the 
villagers came in costume and announced that they 
would have a dance on the green. Our Crown Princess 
led the whole Court to take part. The village fiddler 
played, the peasants danced, and all was as merry as 
possible. 

“ But suddenly the Crown Princess had an idea. 


206 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


44 She ordered the castle thrown open, the Court mu- 
sicians summoned, and all went in to dance on the fine 
polished floors. 

44 When Monsieur de Paillot heard this he shook his 
head. 

44 4 Marie Antoinette played at being dairymaid, n’est- 
ce-pas ? ’ and he looked as if we intended to turn revo- 
lutionists and cut off the head of our dear Crown Prin- 
cess just for pleasure. 

44 Old General Rockeritz, the friend of the Crown 
Prince, is much at Paretz, and Berlin tells a story of 
him also. 

44 He had a way of leaving the table the moment the 
meal was at an end. 

44 No one could imagine what he did with himself, 
and it worried the Gniidige Frau von Paretz to have him 
leave her. 

44 4 Let him alone,’ said her husband, 4 he is old and 
wants his comfort.’ 

44 But our Crown Princess was not satisfied. 

44 Next day at the end of dinner she appeared with 
a tray on which were cigars and a lighted taper. The 
whole company gazed at her in surprise, the general, 
as usual, trying to escape. 

44 With a smile the Crown Princess detained him, pre- 
senting her tray. 


THE MARRIAGE 207 

“ ‘ No, no, dear Rockeritz,’ she said, 4 do not go 
away. To-day you must have your dessert with us.’ 

44 The old general was enchanted. Now he need not 
sit alone to enjoy his cigar.” 

Marianne, pausing, began to turn over pages. 

44 There is so much, children, I can’t read it all. Be- 
sides, it is sad. The Princess Frederika loses her hus- 
band, the widow of Frederick the Great dies, and so 
does the King. Then the Queen has a second little son. 
His name is Frederick William Louis, but you know 
who he is, our Prince William. He was the tiniest little 
babe, it says here. But you must hear how good our 
Queen is. 4 1 am Queen,’ she wrote to her grandmother, 
4 and what rejoices me most is that I need no longer 
economise in my charities.’ 

44 The citizens of Berlin at once, when she became 
Queen, waited upon her,” read Marianne. 44 The Queen 
made them welcome and said : 4 It gives me great pleas- 
ure to know you. The good will of my Prussian subjects 
and of you will never be forgotten. It shall be my aim 
to hold that love, for the love of his subjects is the 
best crown of a King. With joy I embrace this oppor- 
tunity to know my citizens better.’ 

44 To Rockeritz the King said : 

44 4 My blessed uncle, Frederick the Great, has said 
that a treasure is the basis and prop of the Prussian 


5208 TWO ROYAL FOES 

states. We have now nothing but debts. I shall be as 

economical as possible.’ 

44 Then did he propose to continue, as King, to live 
upon the income he had made suffice as Crown Prince? 

44 4 The debts of my father,’ said he very earnestly, 
4 must be paid by industry, discipline and economy.’ 

44 Ludwig,” wrote Erna, 44 is much pleased with all 
this, but he hopes the King will not forget that France 
is not yet at the end of her troubles. There is talk of a 
young man named Napoleon Bonaparte, who is the hope 
now of France. They say he will right everything. 

44 There are many stories told about our new King 
and his hatred of ceremony. I will write them to amuse 
myself. My wedding will not be quite so soon. I am not 
well and it is best for me now not to work. I do not 
know what is my trouble, but I cough and do not sleep 
well at nights and all are very, very kind to me. 

44 Now for the stories of the King. 

44 Immediately after the death of the late King, the 
Chamberlain threw open both folding doors for the en- 
trance of Frederick William. One had been enough for 
him when he was Crown Prince. 

44 4 Am I,’ he asked in his whimsical way, 4 in a mo- 
ment grown so much that one door will not do for 
me?’ 

44 When the chef added two more dishes to the bill 


THE MARRIAGE 209 

of fare, with a smile he remarked to his wife: 4 It is 
easy to see that they believe that since yesterday I have 
received a larger stomach.’ 

44 According to a custom established by Frederick 
the Great, two Lieutenant-Generals always stood at the 
Royal table, and, with the Court Marshal, waited until 
the King first should drink. 

44 When Frederick William saw them standing like 
posts at his board he waved his hand toward chairs, in- 
viting them to be seated. 

44 4 We cannot be seated, your Majesty, 5 they an- 
swered with great dignity. 

44 4 Why not? 5 

44 4 Your Majesty must first drink. 5 

44 4 And what must I drink? 5 inquired William, smil- 
ing and gazing at the glasses. 

44 4 It is not stated, your Majesty. 5 

44 The King seized a glass of water and drank it 
standing. 

44 4 Now sit, 5 cried he in relief, as if he thought it all 
foolishness. 

44 Soon after the Crown Princess became Queen she 
went with her husband on a journey through his realm. 
It was the first time that a King of Prussia had taken 
his Queen with him so far from Berlin, and Ludwig 
says the people were delighted. 


210 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


“ Baron von Sternberg comes in now and then to see 
mother, and he is always full of court gossip. At Star- 
gard, in Pomerania, he says, the King reviewed the 
troops and then the Queen started towards Custrin. At 
one of the villages the people surrounded the royal car- 
riage and begged our Queen to alight and have some 
refreshment they had prepared. 

“ At once she left the carriage and went right into 
their houses, seeing their children and talking with the 
villagers. 

“ They were delighted, the Baron said. 

<fi At Dantzic there were great ceremonies, and the 
amber workers gave the Queen a most lovely necklace. 
We hear that she wore it all the time she was in that 
city. As the Queen loves the country, she made many 
excursions. One was to Karlsberg, and now they will 
always call the spot where she stood 6 Louisa’s 
Grove.’ 

“ It would take too long to tell everything, how the 
Queen stayed a week in the old palace at Konigsberg, 
and the people, to please her Majesty, who always loves 
to do good, gave a great dinner to the poor, and every- 
where she stepped flowers were strewn before her. So 
in love with our Queen were the people of Konigsberg, 
that a large body of citizens insisted on going with her 
to Warsaw. As they were going down a steep hill, be- 


THE MARRIAGE 211 

cause of the carelessness of the coachman, our Queen’s 
carriage was overturned. The Countess von Voss, de- 
claring him to be drunk, reproved him very sharply. 
But our Queen can never stand seeing people unhappy. 
She touched the Countess on the arm. 4 Thank God, we 
are not hurt,’ she said, 4 let it pass over quietly, for the 
accident has frightened our people much more than it 
has us ; let us not add to their troubles.’ 

44 But how delighted Berlin is over the Queen’s re- 
ception in Warsaw I cannot write. Ludwig has ex- 
plained to me that the Poles do not love Prussia, who has 
conquered them, but they forgot all their hatred and 
received our King and Queen with cheers, flags, and 
much waving of handkerchiefs. And fifty Polish girls 
in white, with wreaths on their heads and baskets in 
their hands, walked before their Majesties, strewing 
flowers. And at a village sixteen Polish girls greeted 
her with a song. Everywhere there were processions. 
For myself, I should tire of so many, but the Baron says 
that our dear Queen loves gaiety and she loves her 
people and smiles are always on her face and kind 
greetings on her lips. 

44 As she talks she waves a little fan, fast if she is 
merry, slow if she is thoughtful or sad. Ludwig 
brought me one of the fans now the fashion in Ber- 
lin. They are small and all young ladies have them. 


212 TWO ROYAL FOES 

There is a picture of the King and Queen on them, and 
4 Long live Frederick William and Louisa,’ as an in- 
scription. 

“ Mine is blue and the pictures have gold frames 
about them. 

<fi But I must not forget the Queen’s journey. At 
Breslau there was a great procession of market garden- 
ers and butchers, and there came a young girl with a 
poem in her hand to welcome our Queen. But, alas, she 
could not speak for bashfulness. And what did our good 
Queen do but smile on her and hold out her Royal hand 
to encourage her? 

“ And such presents as our Queen received ! 

w There is now a new Princess. Her name is Char- 
lotte, and the people of Breslau gave her all her clothes, 
most beautifully embroidered. 

“ As the Queen’s carriage passed through the coun- 
try it had to have fresh horses, and the villagers dressed 
up their manes with ribbons, put red nets over their 
ears and adorned their heads with flowers and gold and 
silver paper, this being the custom among the peasants, 
and it amused the Queen greatly. 

“ In June our Queen came home, and now we often 
see her in the Thiergarten, arm in arm with the King, 
walking quite simply like every-day people. 


THE MARRIAGE 213 

“ Mother went last week to pay a visit to the Coun- 
tess von Voss, and she told her something I shall write 
here. 

“ The first Queen of Prussia lived in the palace at 
Charlottenburg, and her portrait hangs there with 
many others. One is that of the wife of our Great 
Elector. Her name was Louisa, like our Queen, who 
feels a great love for her. 

“‘Her face,’ she told the Countess, ‘seems to greet 
me with a heavenly smile.’ The Countess wrote it in the 
j ournal she keeps and writes in each morning. ‘ I look 
upon it until I feel that there must be a living bond of 
sympathy between us.’ 

“ This Louisa, history tells us, had much trouble, and 
once with her children was forced to flee before an 
enemy. All that our Queen discussed with the Countess. 

“ ‘ But oh ! ’ she exclaimed — I can shut my eyes and 
picture her as she said it — ‘ what must have been her 
happiness in finding that she could help and comfort her 
husband in the hours of his heavy trial ! ’ 

“ But our Queen is not to flee before an enemy, for 
our King alone in Europe keeps the peace.” 

“ But she did, Mariechen,” interrupted Ilse. 

“ I met her in the snow,” said Bettina, her blue eyes 
filling. 


214 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


Marianne nodded. 

44 Our Aunt Erna could not know that,” she said, 
and continued the reading. 

44 Our Queen has three children now, and all Ber- 
lin says what a good mother she is, very often in her 
nursery. Every' morning she and the King go in and 
kiss each child, and as they grow old enough our King 
sends a basket of fruit to each one every morning. 
And now they begin to give parties for the Crown 
Prince.” 

44 Yes, indeed,” interrupted Marianne, 44 when we lived 
in Berlin the Royal children had many entertainments. 
Once the little daughter of the famous Madame de 
Stael was there. She is a writer, children, and she has 
written a fine book about us Germans. Her little girl 
is not so good as her books,” laughed Marianne, 64 but 
very spoilt and very rude, and what do you think she 
did at the Royal party ? ” 

The children shook their heads. 

44 She boxed the Crown Prince’s ears.” 

44 Oh ! ” Carl’s eyes grew round in horror. 

44 Ja,” said Marianne , 44 she did, and the Crown Prince 
ran to the Queen and buried his face in her dress, but 
nothing anyone could say would make little Mademoi- 
selle de Stael apologise. But she was never asked again 
to even one of the masquerades, balls or plays. At 


THE MARRIAGE 215 

Christmas they had always a tree and our dear Queen 
decorated and dressed it herself, and there were dances 
and jugglers, and once at Paretz, they had a lottery 
for all the children. I was there with our father and 
when a child did not draw a prize, our Queen, with one 
of her lovely smiles, gave a present herself.” 

Then she returned to the journal. 

“ At Paretz, our Queen’s country home, all ceremony 
is laid aside. The King will be called ‘ Schulze ’ (mag- 
istrate) and they join in all the sports and dances of 
the people who live there. 

“But our Queen loves to be grand, also, and there 
was once in Berlin a fine masquerade in her honour, a 
play where girls represented cocoons, and at her ap- 
proach untwisted themselves from their wrappings and 
danced out butterflies. And once there was a fine play 
representing the marriage of Queen Mary of England 
and Philip of Spain. Our Queen was Mary and many 
people think it a bad omen, for this Queen was so un- 
happy and lost Calais to the English. The Duke of 
Sussex was Philip. But there are people who do not love 
our Queen. Colonel York is one. He came yesterday to 
pay his respects to mother and he said horrid things, 
that our Queen’s hands are too big and her feet not 
well made. Ludwig says this is because she has influence 
over the King and because she will have a well-behaved 


216 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Court. Colonel York says she does not treat the military 

with proper respect. 

“ It is again May, and our Queen has gone on an- 
other journey. To-day we visited Peacock Island, where 
she lives so happily in the chateau built like a ruined 
Roman villa. I saw the very rooms of our Queen, and the 
menagerie, and heard from Ludwig and the Baron, who 
was with us, how happy our King is when he can throw 
off affairs of state and come 6 home 9 to Peacock 
Island.” 

“ Yes,” interrupted Marianne, “ we used to hear a 
great deal about Peacock Island when we lived in Ber- 
lin before this awful war. Once Bishop Eylert was sit- 
ting beneath the trees with our King and Queen and 
her Majesty inquired of a servant where the children 
were. 

“ * Playing in a meadow, Majesty,’ said the atten- 
dant. 

cc Our Queen jumped up in the way she does and 
cried out that she would go to them and surprise 
them. 

“ Our King agreed, and they all three got into a 
boat and the King rowed them up the Havel, which, you 
know, makes the Island. 

“ Suddenly the boat appeared before the children. 


THE MARRIAGE 217 

‘Where did you come from, papa?’ cried our Crown 
Prince in surprise. 

“ ‘ Through the reeds and rushes/ answered our 
King. 

“ ‘ Amongst reeds is good whistle cutting/ said our 
Crown Prince quick as a flash. 

“And then our King asked him what that proverb 
means, and he answered that it means that a wise man 
knows how to take advantage of circumstances. Then 
our King wanted to know if he were in the rushes, what 
whistle he would cut, and the Crown Prince said he 
wished they could all have tea together there on the 
meadow.” 

“And did they?” inquired Carl, who was very fond 
of picnics. 

“ Ja,” answered Marianne, “ and it was lovely, with 
our Queen helping them and laughing, and their father 
teasing and telling stories.” 

“I know a story, too,” said Carl. “Mr. Jackson 
told me.” 

“ Tell it,” begged the twins. “ Go, on, Carlchen.” 

“ Two Englishmen went to Peacock Island,” said 
Carl, puffing out his words in his eager importance. 
“ They had no right to go and they went. An officer 
ran them away. But they met a lady and a gentleman. 
It was our King and Queen. They made them stay and 


218 TWO ROYAL FOES 

they showed them everything, and the Englishmen did 
not know that it was our King and Queen. My story 
is best, ja, Mariechen; isn’t it, Bettina? ” 

Marianne nodded. 

“ But now, let us read,” she said. 

“ Peacock Island has also a palm house, and there 
are many peacocks and doves and pigeons, of which our 
Queen is so fond. 

“ Our Queen is so good to all children. 

“ 6 The children’s world is my world,’ she says, and 
she is always being kind to some child, and when she 
and the King drive out she will salute the people with 
smiles long after he is tired and stops it. 

“ Often I think of what our poets have said of her. 
She is one of four sisters. One is our Princess Louis ; an- 
other, Theresa, is the Princess of Thum and Taxis ; and 
the third, Charlotte, is the Duchess of Sachsen-Hild- 
burghausen. Our great poet, Jean Paul Richter, called 
them fi the four noble and beautiful sisters on the throne.’ 
And famous Wieland said of our Louisa, 4 Were I the 
King of Fate, she should be Queen of Europe.’ And 
Goethe,” Marianne rolled her voice and the twins gig- 
gled, “ who was with the Duke of Weimar in camp and 
saw our Queen and her sister, Frederika, when, as prin- 
cesses, they came to visit their betrothed with their 


THE MARRIAGE 219 

grandmother, from his tent, wrote in his journal that 
they were visions of loveliness which should never fade 
from his memory. And she has set the Berlin young girls 
a fine example in dress. Ludwig is delighted. She wears 
very simple muslins, and, indeed, why should she waste 
her time over silks and brocades when white so suits 
her ? ” 

Marianne here stopped in her reading. 

44 Go on, Mariechen,” said Carl, the other three look- 
ing up in surprise. 

44 That is all, children. Our dear Aunt Erna died the 
month before she was to marry Cousin Ludwig. But 
there are stories I can tell you, which have happened 
since our dear Aunt Erna died. 

44 Once on a journey she arrived at the place where 
they were to eat, a long time before her husband. They 
entreated her to eat, as the meal was ready, but, 4 No, 
I will not eat until my husband comes,’ she said. 4 It is 
the duty of every wife to wait for her husband.’ 

44 And once, children, our dear Queen, when she was 
gay and happy, and not sad as now, came to Memel on 
a visit, and the Czar was here and they had oh! such 
feasts. Uncle Joachim has told me about it, and when 
the next baby came she was called Alexandrina, because 
of her mother and father’s great friendship for Alex- 
ander. Uncle told me another story. Once the treasurer 


220 TWO ROYAL FOES 

told our Queen that she gave too much money to the 

poor, and said that he must speak to the King. 

“‘Do so,’ said our Queen; ‘he will not be angry.’ 
And she was right, for when she opened her writing 
case she found her purse full of gold, and the King 
laughed and told her that a fairy had placed it there. 

“ And once, when the Countess von Yoss was angry 
with a poor woman for making a mistake and sitting in 
the Royal pew, our dear Queen sent for her and told her 
how sorry she was. Oh, children, I could talk all night 
of her, she is so good and so kind to everybody. Once 
she made a grand lord wait until she could talk with a 
poor shoemaker who had come first, because, she said, 
the shoemaker’s time was valuable and the lord’s was 
not. 

“ Once our King came to breakfast with our Queen 
and saw a new cap lying on the table. 

“ ‘ What does that cost?’ he asked the Queen. 

“ ‘ It is not good for men to ask the cost of ladies’ 
things,’ answered the Queen, with a laugh. 

“ ‘ But I should like to know,’ insisted the King. 

“ ‘ Only four thalers.’ 

“ ‘ Only ! For that thing ? ’ 

“ Then the King ran to the window and called in an 
old invalid soldier who was taking his air. 

“ ‘ The lady who sits on that sofa has much gold,’ he 


THE MARRIAGE 221 

said, and pointed to our Queen. 4 What do you think, 
old comrade, she gave for that thing on the table? 5 

“ * Perhaps, sire, a groschen.’ 

You hear that ? ’ asked our King. * She has paid 
four thalers. Now, go ask her to give you twice as 
much ! 5 

“ With a smile the Queen paid the money, and then 
said: 6 Now, see that gentleman who stands by the 
window? He has four times as much gold as I have. 
All that I have he gives me, and it is much. Go to him, 
then, and ask for double eight thalers.’ So, you see, 
children,” laughed Marianne, “ our King got the worst 
of it. 

“ I could tell you many other stories, but it is bed- 
time. I have let you sit up late, very late, and I can 
only tell one more, and then to bed. Franz, Wolfgang, 
and I were once in the Christmas Markt. We were 
choosing our gifts, when the crowd moved back for a 
gentleman with a lady on his arm. It was our King 
and Queen, and they came straight to one booth where 
a poor woman was buying her gifts. At once she tried 
to get out of the way. But our Queen stopped her with 
a smile. 6 Remain, my good woman,’ she cried ; 4 what 
shall this merchant say if we drive away his customers? 9 
Then she asked the poor woman all about her family, 
and when she heard that she had a boy just the age of 


TWO ROYAL FOES 

the Crown Prince she bought a lovely toy for her boy 
to send to the poor one. Now, wasn’t that good in her? 
And is it not fine that she is here in Memel and we can 
know her? As for Napoleon, he is wicked to cause her 
such trouble.” 

44 1 hate him,” said little Carl, his cheeks puffing and 
his face becoming quite red. 

44 Yes, yes,” cried the twins ; 44 we hate him.” 

But Bettina looked eagerly at Marianne. 

44 Gracious, Fraulein,” she said, 44 when will Frederick 
Barbarossa awake? I am always telling the ravens.” 

Before Marianne could reply Carl jumped from his 
seat, the twins started up in fright. 

A sharp knock had sounded on the window. 

44 What is it, sister ? ” And the twins ran to Mari- 
anne. 

At that moment the Professor came in at the door. 

44 Nonsense,” he said; 44 who could be at our win- 
dow ? ” 

But the children insisted. 

44 We heard it, father,” they said. 

The Professor, crossing the room, opened the sash, 
the children following. 

On the window lay a piece of folded paper. 

His face full of amazement, the Professor brought it 
to the candles. 


THE MARRIAGE 223 

The writing was in German, and the letters like those 
of a person who wrote very seldom. 

“ Your son, the Herr Lieutenant, has escaped and is in hiding. 
Put money and food on the window to-night and it will be fetched 
to him. It is not safe to say more. 

“One You Know.” 

“ One you know,” repeated the Professor. Then his 
eyes scanned the writing and he shook his head. 

“ Grandfather writes that way,” said Bettina, her 
eyes all afire. 

Before anyone could stop her Elsa cried out in sur- 
prise: 

“ Why, Bettina,” she said, “ your grandfather can’t 
write. A soldier brought news to the King that he is 
dead.” 


CHAPTER XVI 


WHAT HAPPENED TO HANS 

When Hans left Memel he went at once to the house 
where he had stayed the night with Bettina. The woman 
who had cleaned the dress was standing in the doorway. 

“ It’s a cold day,” she said in French to a man who 
had paused with a bundle to ask her a question. 

Hans started. 

“ Ach Himmel,” he said, for the look of her face, the 
way she pronounced her words told the old man that 
she was no Prussian. 

He turned in at the next house and begged a lodging. 

The woman took him very willingly. 

“ Money is scarce,” she said, “ and my man will be 
glad to have me help a little.” 

She was a large, honest-faced woman, not clever look- 
ing, but one Hans felt safe to talk with. 

Ja, ja, her neighbour was French. She and her hus- 
band had come there a month after Jena. He pretended 
to be a peddler who was prevented from travel by the 
war. 

“ We do not believe a word of it,” said the woman, 
lowering her voice. “ Too many strangers come there 
224 , 


WHAT HAPPENED TO PIANS 225 
who do not speak honest German. My man,” she 
shrugged her shoulders, “ has his own opinion of what 
they are here for.” 

Hans looked at her inquiringly and waited. 

“ It’s Napoleon,” said the woman, and she brought 
Hans his black bread and cheese. 

The old man reflected as he drank. 

He remembered that a little fellow who looked for- 
eign had sent him to the house that day when they had 
entered the village with the Queen’s party. He knew 
that all along his way the French had been warned 
against a messenger bearing a secret letter about the 
Secretary Lombard, who was suspected of treachery 
and dealings with the French. There were other mat- 
ters in the letter, matters the King should have knowl- 
edge of, but how to get possession of it again the old 
man had no idea. 

“ I shall watch here, however,” he concluded. “ I may 
find out things just as useful as the letter.” 

For three days nothing happened. 

On the night of the fourth he could not sleep because 
of the rattling of his window. 

Rising to stop it with paper he was astonished to 
see a long ray of light across the snow in the garden. 

“ Himmel,” said Hans, “ it comes from next door. It 
must be after midnight. She has visitors.” 


226 TWO ROYAL FOES 

He threw on his clothes and crept to the garden. 

Ja, he was right. The light came from the kitchen 
of the next house. 

“ I shall wait,” said Hans, “ and see what happens.” 

It was bitterly cold. The wind cut like a knife, the 
trees and bushes cracked their icy dress ; but Hans had 
a fur cap, and he drew it well over his ears. 

He had been in the cold for a half hour when a sound 
made him start. 

It was the creaking of the kitchen door of the next 
house. The light vanished, and with careful steps a dark 
figure moved across the snow. 

Hans nodded. 

“ You go, I follow,” he thought. 

He was a spy himself. The man in the snow, he 
knew, was another. 

The man left the garden. Hans left his. 

On he went through the snow, Hans always a good 
pace behind him, stopping if he stopped, running if he 
ran, and, two men moving as one, they came to the 
open country. 

Pausing, the man gave a low call. 

It was answered with cautious care. 

Then a sleigh with high runners and a driver in a 
fur cap glided from the distant darkness. A figure, not 
the driver, leaned from the fur rugs. 


WHAT HAPPENED TO HANS 227 

“ You have it? ” was asked in French. 

“ Yes,” said the man ; 44 the woman told the truth. 
It is the one we are in search of.” 

The man in the sleigh uttered a sound as of con- 
gratulation. 

44 Lombard, you mean ? ” 

44 Yes, yes. The woman has had it three days. Here.” 

Something white was held in the air — his letter. 
Hans recognised it. 

The man moved to spring into the sleigh, but a quick 
hand caught him, a foot tripped him up, and snow 
flew everywhere as two bodies rolled in the whiteness. 

It was all over in a second. 

Paper flew on the wind, torn fiercely in pieces, and 
then Hans found himself bound fast with handker- 
chiefs and woollen scarfs, flat in the bottom of the 
sleigh, four feet upon him. 

What matter? 

He had seized the letter in the scuffle and only the 
swift wind of the Baltic knew where were the pieces. 

The Prussian King would never know if Lombard 
were guilty, but the French would not possess a draw- 
ing of certain frontier fortresses. 

The Frenchmen were furious. They vowed Hans 
should be shot that night like a dog. 

The driver brought them a piece or two of the letter, 


228 TWO ROYAL FOES 

but one was half blank and the other was the address 

to His Majesty. 

“ Dantzic ! ” ordered the man, when the driver de- 
clared further search was useless. 

Then off they dashed. 

After some talk in low tones they changed their 
direction, but to what place they decided to go Hans 
could not discover. 

One of the men addressed him in French. 

“ For safety’s sake,” he muttered to his neigh- 
bour. 

Hans feigned ignorance. 

“ I do not understand, monsieur,” he said stupidly, 
in German. 

With relief the two raised their voices and talked 
steadily as they flew over the snow. 

Dantzic must fall. It grew daily weaker. 

“ The Emperor,” said one, “ will wipe Prussia out of 
existence.” 

Then he told how it was believed that Napoleon 
meant to make a new kingdom. 

“His brother, Jerome, has nothing yet,” he said, 
and he laughed at the Prussians and called them pigs 
and cowards, and made jokes about the generals, and 
said things that Napoleon had invented about the Queen. 

It was hard for Hans to lie still and say nothing, but 


WHAT HAPPENED TO HANS 229 
the first thing in life is to know when to hold one’s 
tongue, and Hans knew it was useful to listen. 

Early in the morning they came to a town, through 
whose gate they entered. The sleigh drew up before a 
great building. A French soldier came quickly to greet 
the travellers, one of whom sprang out and entered the 
house with him. 

“ Coffee,” ordered the other. “ We are freezing.” 

In a few moments several soldiers appeared. They 
ordered Hans from the sleigh; handcuffs were locked on 
his wrists, and he was marched away, the second trav- 
eller and driver following. 

Hans asked the soldier near him in what town he was. 

The man laughed mockingly. 

“ Where you are,” said he in bad German, “ is none 
of your business, old man. What you are, you and I 
know.” 

He thrust out his under lip and shrugged his 
shoulders. 

“ Old man, what you are I can tell you — a spy of the 
King of Prussia and a prisoner of the Emperor Na- 
poleon ! ” 

Then he held up his hands to imitate a gun, and 
half closing his eye pretended to take aim at the 
prisoner. 

“ To-morrow? Next day? Who knows? ” and he led 


230 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Hans to a cold bare room, when, locking the door, he 

left him. 

“What matter?” muttered Hans. “I am old, and 
the French will never read the letter.” 

Very likely he would be shot, and soon. In Magde- 
burg they had shot down Prussians by dozens. The day 
he had stopped at the farmhouse he had heard how 
they had chained a father and son together, marched 
them through the town and shot them. 

“ It is war,” said Hans ; “ I took my chances. The 
good Mademoiselle Clara will take good care of my 
Bettina.” 

The next day came, and the next ; a week passed and 
nothing happened. 

The truth was, the victory at Eylau was uncertain. 
Napoleon was checked and all things were waiting. 
There was hope of peace, and an order came to march 
all prisoners to another city. 

It was the good God, Hans believed, who directed his 
eye to a field as he was marched to his new prison, a 
castle the French then were using. The field itself was 
white and crusted with snow, but Hans’ eye noted a 
large spot where the whiteness had been melted and 
then had frozen, as if water had flowed upon it. It was 
near spring now and there were thaws, then more snow, 
and then fresh melting and freezing. 


WHAT HAPPENED TO HANS 231 

The spot Hans noticed had nothing to do with this. 
It was as if a large stream of water had a habit of 
pouring out there. Yes, he was right, for he saw that 
the snow was broken and frozen towards a ditch on the 
boundary of the field. 

“It must be a sewer,” said Hans, and thought no 
more about it. 

Life in the castle was easy and pleasant. The place 
was so strong there was no danger of escape, so the 
commander, being easy-going, permitted the prisoners 
much liberty, allowing them to walk about for air in 
the paved courtyard. 

Hans enjoyed this, being used to the air and freedom 
of his Thuringian forest. 

His room in the castle had a window, and that also 
made him happy. One day, gazing out, he discovered 
that the field he had noticed lay quite near the wall of 
his prison. 

“ Ach Himmel ! ” cried Hans, with a start. “ It is 
the sewer pipe of this castle ! ” 

A thought struck him. He was old, yes, and he had 
said he did not mind dying; but his heart beat wildly 
at the thought of escaping from certain death by 
shooting. Day after day he thought on the sewer. 
Where was the exit, he wondered, from the castle! 
He would find it, yes, if it were possible. 


232 TWO ROYAL FOES 

To get air he went to the courtyard. New prisoners 
had arrived in the night. They, too, were walking. 

“Ach Himmel! God be praised!” cried Hans, for 
he came face to face with the Herr Lieutenant. 

But what a change! 

He was thin, gaunt, and pale, and his face and 
figure looked wretched and hopeless. 

“ Hans Lange ! ” he cried, and then there was much 
to talk of. 

To his ear Hans confided the idea of the sewer, and 
hope at once began to change the expression of the 
prisoner. 

After the great victory of Friedland there was a 
truce to discuss peace, so Hans still remained a pris- 
oner; and one day he was ordered to work in the 
garden of the castle. 

“ Food is scarce, prisoners are many and idle. We 
may have some vegetables; why not? ” asked the com- 
mandant. 

“ The good God again,” thought Hans, for he had 
his own idea about that sewer. The garden must be 
drained. The pipe, certainly, must do the labour, and, 
the good God helping him, he might again see his 
Bettina. 

And one day in the garden he came upon the iron lid 
of a manhole, overgrown with grass and very rusty. 


WHAT HAPPENED TO HANS 233 

44 The sewer!” thought Hans, with joy. 44 It is big 
enough for a man to slip through.” 

He bent over. He pulled on the bars. Then he 
glanced up to see if he were observed. The eye of a 
sentinel seemed on him, so, seizing a weed, he pulled 
hard, tugged, and then rising with the thing in his hand, 
flung it aside. Satisfied, the sentinel showed no more 
curiosity. 

Again and again he tried to loosen the lid, but no 
effort could move it; but though he went about his 
work, he returned now and then to his prize, and sud- 
denly, while he was in a different part of the garden, an 
idea struck him. The bar on which the lid was swung 
was eaten with rust. Could he break it s the lid could 
be lifted at will. 

He returned and examined closely. Yes, he was 
right; the rust was of ages. Lifting his spade, he 
pressed with all his might. God be praised! It was 
easier than he had thought. More pressure and it broke 
like wood. The other side was more difficult and it occu- 
pied days, but at last it was free. 

44 Now the Herr Lieutenant ! ” thought Hans, in 
glee. 

44 The thing for me,” cried Franz, his face alight with 
new hope, 44 is to feign illness, entreat for some labour 
and beg to be allowed to help in the garden.” 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


Hans did not believe this would be possible. 

44 You, an officer! ” he said, and shook his old head. 

44 I can try,” said Franz, and presented himself before 
the proper person. 

44 Inaction is killing me,” he announced. And, indeed, 
he looked most dreadful, pale, bloodless, and a ghost of 
the brave young officer of Jena. 

The French were always good-natured with the Ger- 
man prisoners until the time came to shoot them, and 
that, after all, was Napoleon’s affair, not theirs, and so 
the Herr Lieutenant was permitted to dig. 

44 A strange occupation for an officer,” and the com- 
mandant shrugged his shoulders. But the Germans, at 
best, he thought, were only pigs, so if this one wanted to 
root, let him. The walls of the castle were high. Escape 
was impossible. 

44 Now,” said Hans, 44 now, may the good God help 
us with the rest ! ” 

44 Amen,” said the Herr Lieutenant. 

And it seemed that He did, for on the second day of 
Franz’s digging a quick, pelting June rain hid them 
entirely from the view of the castle. 

The rain came down in sheets ; all were safe in the 
castle, not a soul could see them. The rain changed 
suddenly into hail. All the better, and the good God be 
thanked ! 


WHAT HAPPENED TO HANS 


235 


“ Now,” cried Hans ; 44 now or never ! ” 

He jerked the lid off the hole. 

Down went the Herr Lieutenant, his feet landing in 
the sewer, his head stilt in view. 

“ Good,” he said, 44 good ! There is space enough 
below.” 

Then down he went, and Hans saw him no more. 

The old man had kept for himself the hard task. He 
must cover the drain after him with the lid. Down he 
went, holding the cover in his hand above him, for the 
drain was too narrow for him to lift his arm once in. 

44 Ach Himmel,” he thought, 44 the rain is ceasing.” 

Then he lowered the lid, balanced on his palm, and 
as he struggled into the sewer proper it fell into its 
place with a crash. 

44 Ach Himmel,” said the old soldier, for he was sure 
the noise would tell the story. But he pushed forward 
eagerly. 

Only the thought of liberty could make such an 
awful journey possible. 

The Herr Lieutenant, being ahead, kept out the air 
from one end, and water came pouring in at the other. 
But fortunately the way was short, and the Herr Lieu- 
tenant was soon in the field, and the water coming sud- 
denly with a rush bore Hans like a straw, landing him 
almost drowned in the ditch near the Herr Lieutenant. 


236 TWO ROYAL FOES 

For a few moments he could not breathe, but the voice 
of the Herr Lieutenant recalled him. 

44 Come,” said the young man, 44 come ! ” 

44 Ja, ja,” and off they started. 

For an hour they crawled in the ditch, which seemed 
to be interminable. Once or twice they heard guns, but 
who shot them they had no idea, and then presently the 
ditch ended. 

44 Come; we are safe now,” said the Herr Lieutenant, 
and he raised himself up from the bushes, Hans follow- 
ing his example. 

44 Gott im Himmel ! ” he cried. 

On the road before them came soldiers in French 
uniform. 

44 Back ! ” cried the old man, 44 back ; lie flat, or they 
will see you ! ” 


CHAPTER XVII 

AT TILSIT 

It was while the children were in charge of Marianne 
that something very important happened at the town 
of Tilsit, on the river Niemen. 

On that twenty-fifth day of June, in the dreadful 
year of 1807, all the people of the place were gath- 
ered on the river banks in high excitement. Actually 
their faces looked joyful, a thing which had not hap- 
pened since Napoleon had entered Prussia. 

“Now we shall have peace. Congratulations!” they 
exclaimed one to the other, gazing at a raft gay with 
flags, anchored midway between the shores of the river. 

“ They have bought every bright rag in Tilsit,” said 
a fat, jolly-faced merchant, nodding in congratulation. 

“ Ach ja,” returned a friend, “ God be praised! It is 
many a day since there has been selling in Prussia.” 

Then, “Look! look! Napoleon! Napoleon!” as a 
man, heavy now to fatness, stepped into a boat most 
gorgeously decorated. 

“ The monster ! the upstart ! ” muttered the people. 
But that was of no concern to the conqueror, whose 
eyes wandered restlessly from shore to shore and whose 
237 


238 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


mouth pressed its lips to cruel firmness. Behind him fol- 
lowed marshals and generals, gay in scarlet, gold, and 
white, and blue. 

A boat decorated with the colours of France awaited 
their coming. 

“ The Czar ! ” cried the people, as a second caval- 
cade approached. “ Our ally, Alexander ! ” 

There was no handsomer man in Europe. Tall, ma- 
jestic in appearance, in every way a contrast to Napo- 
leon, the ruler of Russia approached a second boat, 
opposite Napoleon’s, and brilliant with yellow and black. 
The monarch was followed by his brother, Grand Duke 
Constantine, by his generals and many Russian lords. 

At a signal and amid the cries of the people, off 
pushed the boats. 

The first to arrive was Napoleon, who sprang to the 
raft, and with his own hands opened the door of the 
pavilion and turned to welcome his guest. 

Cannon announced the arrival of the Czar, and the 
two monarchs stood hand in hand in full view of the 
allied and French armies, lined up on both banks, and 
of the people of Tilsit, who stared at each other in 
surprise. 

“Where is our King? ” they asked. “ Is he to have 
no voice in the making of peace? ” And their eyes 
searched everywhere. 


AT TILSIT 239 

Alone, on his horse, his face troubled and anxious, 
they saw the one they sought. There was no boat to 
bear him to the raft. Prussia’s colours appeared no- 
where. The two emperors were to settle the affairs of 
Europe. The King of Prussia was conquered and not 
wanted. Joy faded from the East Prussian faces. 

“ Our King is a good man,” they said. “We do not 
find it good that he is so neglected.” 

The King himself looked neither to the left nor the 
right. He rode forward, his splendid figure outlined now 
against the sky, now hid by the soldiers. At a certain 
point he turned. Back he rode, and then turned again. 

“ Our poor King ! ” said the people, and while can- 
non roared and soldiers cheered, their hearts began to 
beat fiercely against both Alexander and Bonaparte. 

For an hour the two emperors conferred, the generals 
waiting in their boats, Frederick William pacing back 
and forth on his horse. 

Then presently it began to rain, at first lightly, and 
then suddenly in torrents, as if Heaven itself was weep- 
ing over blood-stained Europe. 

The King of Prussia rode to and fro, not minding the 
downfall, but thinking only of the cruelty of the man 
who had shut him out of the conference. 

Everything was against him ; he had lost his kingdom, 
his friend the Czar was deserting him, and yet, as his 


240 TWO ROYAL FOES 

wife the Queen wrote her father, he was “ the best man 
in the world,” a King who lived only to help his sub- 
jects; a King who loved right and hated wrong, who 
believed in good and tried to do it. 

But, like the Queen, he trusted in God, and even as 
he rode up and down, shut out in the rain from the 
conference, he knew that Napoleon and wrong could not 
always have their day, that right and justice always 
conquer. But Frederick William, good as he was, had 
a foe worse even than Napoleon. At no time in his life 
could he decided a thing quickly, or at just the right 
moment. He must think things over, he must look at 
both sides, and while he wavered in came the enemy and 
took the prize. 

When an hour had passed there came a change. Na- 
poleon summoned all the generals and counsellors, who, 
drenched and dripping, entered the door of the pa- 
vilion. 

For two hours more they talked, the King still riding 
in the rain. 

Surely, he thought, the peace which they were making 
must be favourable to poor Prussia. His friend, the 
Czar, must see to it. He himself had stood by Alex- 
ander; now let Alexander be true to him. 

Had they not sworn an eternal friendship ; was not his 
little daughter named Alexandrina, and was not the 


241 


AT TILSIT 

Czar also the friend of the Queen and the old Countess, 
to whom he had promised many things? 

When Alexander of Russia entered the pavilion in 
the Niemen he had at heart the welfare of Prussia only. 
In one hour Napoleon did much. Always he studied 
citadels, or men, and discovered what we call the weak 
point. On it he turned his battery. 

“We all know,” he said to Alexander, “ that no 
monarch in Europe has such thoughts as your Majesty 
for the welfare of mankind.” 

Alexander’s face softened. He was truly a philan- 
thropist. 

After a few moments’ talk along this line Napoleon 
mentioned the word “ England.” 

The Czar’s eyes flashed. 

Napoleon abused that country with vigour. 

Alexander drew nearer. 

“ I dislike the English as much as you do,” he said, 
“ and am ready to second you in all your enterprises 
against them.” 

“ In that case,” said Napoleon, taking note of Alex- 
ander’s fine head and the weak lines in his handsome face, 
and remembering how, when he had been First Consul, 
the Emperor of Russia had been his most ardent ad- 
mirer, “ everything will be easily arranged, and peace 
already is made. You and I,” he added, with an emphasis 


24,2 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


very flattering, “ understand each other. It will be bet- 
ter if we do without our ministers, who often deceive us, 
or misunderstand us. We shall do more in an hour than 
our negotiators would in several days.” 

Then he talked as if the Czar and he were Atlases of 
the world and that all the earth rested upon their 
shoulders. 

Alexander, listening, began to think that after all his 
allies had been no good. Prussia had dragged him to 
defeat; England had done nothing to help either of 
them. Surely a monarch must consider his own welfare. 

When at last the conference ended and the two mighty 
emperors came forth into the sight of the people of 
Tilsit and their waiting soldiers, their faces were glow- 
ing. Waving their hands again and again, each was 
rowed to his own bank of the Niemen. They had formed 
a friendship — Russia and France, Alexander and Napo- 
leon — and the whole world was to profit. 

When Napoleon stepped on shore the people of Tilsit 
were deafened by the cheers of his soldiers. 

As for Alexander, he gazed up into the gloomy face 
of the King of Prussia and a cloud passed over the 
sun of his joy. 

“The Emperor desires to meet your Majesty to- 
morrow,” said he, and his eyes fell. “We can go to- 
gether,” he added, and then hastily deserting the sub- 


243 


AT TILSIT 

ject, he proposed that they arrange about lodgings, as 
for the time they must remain in Tilsit. 

“ Ve.ry well,” said Frederick William, and his heart 
sank. 

Next day the King of Prussia was admitted to a 
second and very different conference, and his noble 
dignity under his misfortune so struck Napoleon that 
he spoke of it. 

“ I have nothing to reproach myself with,” said the 
King very simply. 

Napoleon’s eyes fell, but only for a moment. 

He answered with a shrug. 

“ Nor have I.” 

The King was silent. 

“ I warned you,” Napoleon looked entirely innocent, 
“ against England. It is she who has caused your 
troubles. But France,” his tones became most grandilo- 
quent, “ can afford to be generous. In a few days all 
will be arranged.” 

Never was any man treated more cruelly than poor, 
good, unhappy King Frederick William. Yet there has 
never been a King who behaved better in time of trouble. 
In peace he had been irresolute and sluggish. In trouble 
his figure stands out against a background of woe in 
outlines of dignity and nobility. 

Napoleon made him feel absolutely alone, taking 


244 TWO ROYAL FOES 

away his friend as he had taken away his kingdom. 
Though he asked him to dinner, when the last morsel 
was eaten, the last wine drunk, he bo.re off the Czar to 
his private apartment, excusing both to Frederick 
William. When they were abroad the French soldiers 
called 44 Vive Napoleon ! ” 44 Vive Alexandre ! ” but never 
a cry from the Imperial Guard for the King of Prussia. 

44 It is better for me to be friendly with Napoleon,” 
said the Czar in excuse. The King was silent. 

As for Napoleon, he utterly refused to have the 
King near him, unless absolutely necessary. 

44 1 can’t stand his gloomy face,” he told Alexander. 

The Czar and Napoleon embraced in public. The 
French and Russian soldiers became like brothers, leav- 
ing the Prussians to humiliation and solitude. The 
King, who had always suffered from shyness, felt more 
and more uncomfortable, being made always an unwel- 
come third. He hajd no opinion of himself, the Queen 
was not there to cheer him, and each day he grew more 
gloomy and sad. 

One day the people of Tilsit saw the three monarchs 
riding together, the Czar and Napoleon entirely ignor- 
ing the King, who let his horse drop behind and rode 
alone. 

44 Has not our good King been true to the Czar ? ” 
they cried, and in their hearts the fire against Napo- 


AT TILSIT 


245 


leon and Alexander burned fiercer. “ In January,” 
they said to each other, “ we could have made peace if 
our King had promised to desert Russia. And now the 
Czar deserts our King.” 

But in spite of his friendship with Napoleon, the 
Czar truly loved his friend and wished to help him. 
His brother Constantine forced him to many things, 
threatening him with the fate of his father, who had 
been assassinated, if he did not save Russia at the cost 
of Prussia. 

In the midst of all the great worry an idea entered 
his head and at once pleased him. 

Of all living women he most admired Queen Louisa, 
not only for her wonderful beauty and lovely ways, but 
for her goodness and her love for her husband and 
her people. 

“ Send to Memel for the Queen,” he proposed to 
Frederick William, for he knew things which were to 
come to pass that the King did not. 66 Napoleon now 
is very anxious to see her. Who can tell what good 
she may do for Prussia? One so beautiful, so spiritual, 
so unhappy, may soften his heart and awaken his noblest 
feelings.” 

For a moment or two Frederick William did not an- 
swer. Above all things on earth he loved Queen Louisa. 
Napoleon had mistreated her. She was very delicate, like 


246 TWO ROYAL FOES 

a flower, “ the beautiful rose of the King,” a poet called 
her, and was it right that he ask her to beg favours 
of her foe? Of the man who hated her? 

“ Do, Majesty, do.” General Kalreuth pressed near 
and gazed pleadingly at the King. 

“ Perhaps,” suggested the Czar, “ the Queen may 
bend the iron will of Napoleon, may she not? ” And he 
looked flatteringly at her husband. 

Frederick William sought pen and ink and wrote 
Queen Louisa a hasty letter. 

“ I will go to Memel, also,” proposed General Kal- 
reuth, as the King delivered the letter to a messenger. 

Frederick William nodded. 

“ Act as escort to the Queen,” he commanded, having 
not a doubt of his wife’s answer. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


THE ESCAPE 

The Herr Lieutenant obeyed Hans quickly. 

In breathless silence they lay hid in the bushes. 

For some time they could hear the soldiers, and then 
all was silent. 

64 God be praised ! 99 whispered Hans, 44 now let us 
seek the road.” And out they cautiously scrambled. 

All night they walked steadily, meeting no one, but 
now and then catching sight of some village burning 
against the sky. Where they were they had no idea, but 
somewhere, they knew, in East Prussia. Everywhere 
was desolation. Houses had been burned, fences had 
fallen, and once they came upon the blackened remains 
of a village. For two days and nights they kept in 
the fields and woods, Hans going but once to a house to 
beg for food and some coffee. 

On the third evening they came upon a farm at some 
distance from the road. 

44 We might venture there,” said Hans, 44 for it is 
out of the line of soldiers. I am sure that, Herr 
Lieutenant, all is deserted.” 


247 


248 TWO ROYAL FOES 

But when he reached the window of the house he re- 
turned in a scamper, motioning the Herr Lieutenant 
away with his hand. 

44 There are French officers eating there,” he an- 
nounced. 44 Forward, march,” he added, and on they 
ttudged. 

The Herr Lieutenant grew whiter and whiter. 

44 I can go no farther,” he gasped, and sank on the 
grass at the side of the road. 

His old wound had broken out afresh, and for a 
moment or two he looked as if he were dying. 

What to do Hans had no idea. While he was per- 
plexingk his brain he heard the sound of a slow, dis- 
couraged step, and presently an old peasant, with long, 
unkempt gray hair and a tired, hopeless face, ap- 
proached from the wood. 

When Hans told him their trouble he hesitated. Kind- 
ness and bitterness seemed to struggle hard in his 
.wrinkled face. 

46 The French have left me almost nothing,” he said. 
Then he hesitated. He looked at Hans, then at the 
suffering man on the grass. 

44 My house is near here,” he said at last, reluctantly. 
Then he called, 44 Heinrich ! Heinrich ! ” 

A stupid-looking boy of thirteen or fourteen was 
quickly at his side. 


THE ESCAPE 249 

“ Help,” he commanded, and the three bore Franz to 
a small peasant house behind the wood. 

Hans promised to find money at once. 

“ You say we are near Tilsit? ” he asked. 

The peasant nodded. 

“ Can your boy carry a letter to Memel? ” 

The man hesitated. 

“ There are the French,” he said, and went on to 
explain that if his boy were seen going into Memel 
houses he would perhaps be shot as a spy, their home 
burned, and then where were they? 

44 But at night,” urged Hans, 46 let him lay a note on 
the window of the house I mean and they will put out 
money and provisions.” 

After much talk the old man agreed, and Hans, with 
great difficulty, for he had little education, wrote 
the letter that the Professor had found on his win- 
dow. 

For days Franz was unconscious, but when he came 
to himself again Hans, with a smile, handed him a letter 
from his father. 

44 And we have money now , 99 said the old man with 
a laugh, 44 and all the good food you’ll be wanting.” 

He did not tell the Herr Lieutenant, however, that 
since they had found refuge with the peasant the French 
army had advanced and they were surrounded by the 


250 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


enemy. Instead, he announced that he had heard from 
the peasant that there was talk of peace. 

Now, all might have gone well had Hans been con- 
tent to be quiet. But he was a restless old fellow and he 
could not bear sitting still doing nothing. 

“ I will go out,” he announced next day, “ and dis- 
cover the whereabouts of the enemy.” 

In an hour he returned his face full of excitement, 
his legs shaking. 

“ The soldiers saw me,” he cried. “ They are coming 
this way. Ach Himmel, if I had been quiet ! ” 

Then he ran for the peasant and told him that they 
must hide the Herr Lieutenant. 

The peasant, whose face grew dark with dread, nod- 
ded, shrugging his shoulders. 

“ There is a loft,” he said, “ but hurry.” 

In his small barn was this loft, and opening from it 
and well concealed by wood, a tiny closet. 

There was just room for Franz, who almost fainted 
from excitement as they hurriedly moved him. 

. “ And you? ” he gasped, looking at Hans. 

The old man shrugged his shoulders. 

“ What comes, comes,” he said. “ Auf wiedersehen, 
and we will bring you supper, Herr Lieutenant.” 

For hours Franz lay in the stuffy darkness. He heard 
the arrival of the soldiers, loud voices, the sound of 


THE ESCAPE 251 

many feet and then it seemed to him that for an hour 
he would die of a sudden hotness. There was a smell of 
burning, too, which lasted long after it was cool 
again. 

What had happened? His heart stood still. Would 
they burn the bam? The smell of charred wood seemed 
stronger. 

By and by hunger told him that it was supper time, 
but all continued silent. He fell at last into a sleep 
which lasted until what he thought must be morning. 
The closet was quite dark, the only air coming in from 
the loft, and he felt suffocated. He must have light and 
air. Where was Hans? What had happened? At last 
he felt that he could stand the suspense no longer. 

Putting out one foot he kicked open the door, which, 
kept in place by a log, went down with a crash like 
thunder. Franz was in terror, but, nothing happening, 
he dragged himself forward to the loft. Then he could 
rise, and standing erect he waited until the dizziness in 
his head had settled. 

Then seeking the ladder he stepped below. Instead of 
the neat bam of the day before, he saw disorder every- 
where. Hay was tossed here, horses had trampled there, 
and not a sound of a chicken was heard. The day be- 
fore he had seen at least a dozen. 

He dragged himself to the door. 


252 TWO ROYAL FOES 

There was now no peasant’s house. Only a scene of 
blackened ruins met his eye. 

The barn, too, was scorched; but perhaps the wind 
had blown in an opposite direction, for it had not 
burned. 

Franz trembled like a poplar leaf when he thought 
of what might have been his fate. 

“ Thank God, thank God ! ” he murmured, and then, 
before he could reach out his hand for support, he fell 
on the floor in a dead faint, and there he lay while they 
were making peace at Tilsit. 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE FOES MEET 

Marianne, a few days later, went one morning to the 
drawing-room of Countess von Voss. 

The room was full of ladies. Dr. Huf eland was there, 
the Englishman, and the Queen herself, busy with her 
lint. 

The talk was very violent. 

News had come to Memel that the Czar had made a 
separate peace with Napoleon, and that the Emperor 
of the French, in his hatred of Frederick William, 
meant to rob him of his kingdom, proposing that he be 
no longer called King of Prussia, but only Marquis of 
Brandenburg. 

“ The monster ! The upstart ! The villain ! ” The 
room was full of abuse of Napoleon. 

“ I hate him ; I would kill him ! ” cried one lady, her 
face hot with wrath. 

The Queen lifted her blue eyes from her work. 

“ Dear Mademoiselle,” she said, “ we cannot lighten 
our sorrow by hating the Emperor, and malicious 
thoughts can only make us more unhappy.” 

The lady bit her lips and coloured, but even she had 
253 


254 TWO ROYAL FOES 

to laugh with the rest when the parrot of the Countess 

suddenly called out in French: 

“ Down with the upstart ! Down with Napoleon ! ” 

While the room was yet echoing with the merriment, 
a servant announced a courier from Memel. 

“ A letter from the King,” cried the Queen, and 
seized it with eager fingers. 

Reading it hastily, all watching, she suddenly burst 
into tears. 

“ My Queen, my dear, dear Queen, what is it? ” and 
the Countess flew to her side. 

The Queen, recovering herself, clung to her old 
friend. 

The King wished her to come to Memel, to stay with 
him and plead the cause of her country with Napoleon, 
to entreat for a better peace. 

Her voice quivered as she told of the request, and 
for a moment her blue eyes gazed pathetically at her 
friends in the Saal. 

The whole room was silent, though indignation flashed 
across a face or two. 

Each knew that Napoleon had treated the Queen most 
shamefully, and that it was cruel that she must plead 
before him, must entreat a favour. 

“ It is the hardest thing I have had to do,” at last the 
Queen’s sweet voice broke the silence, her body quiver- 


THE FOES MEET 255 

ing as a rose on its stem when the blasts blow. 44 It is 
the greatest sacrifice I can make for my country.” And 
her lips shook pathetically. 

Then she stood in silence, holding the letter in her 
hand, while the company waited. Marianne felt her 
heart beat until it was near bursting. They all knew 
that the Queen could say that she was not well. The 
winds and cold of Memel had never agreed with her. 
As an excuse to save herself it would be quite justi- 
fiable. 

Marianne leaned forward eagerly. It seemed to her 
at that moment as if all her life was to be settled. 

44 1 will do it,” said the Queen ; 44 the King wishes it.” 
And then the whole room relaxed from its tension. 

44 Perhaps,” added the Queen, folding the letter with 
trembling fingers, her lips quivering, 44 1 can do good, 
be of some service.” 

44 Most certainly, Majesty,” urged General Kalreuth, 
following the courier, his face eager to have his 
way. 

He had brought her a second letter. 

It was from the Czar, entreating her to come, and 
setting before her all that she with her talents and 
beauty might accomplish. 

44 To do my full duty, dear General,” said the poor 
Queen, the tears in her voice, 44 is my only wish. As the 


256 TWO ROYAL FOES 

loved wife of the King, as the mother of my children, as 

the Queen of my people.” 

She swayed, as if faint. Then sudden strength seemed 
to come, and a smile, like sunlight after clouds, sud- 
denly illumined her face, which was even lovelier in her 
sadness. 

“ And, dear friends,” she gazed kindly at the people 
about her, “ I believe firmly in God. And, dear General,” 
again she smiled, “ I do not believe Napoleon will be 
secure on his throne. Truth and righteousness only 
abide. Napoleon is only politically clever.” 

So the good Queen, who loved everybody better than 
her own ease or comfort, kissed the lively, handsome 
Crown Prince; simple, honourable, sensible little Wil- 
liam ; shy, beautiful Charlotte, and answered j oily little 
Carl’s many questions as to when she was going, and, 
loosening baby Alexandrina’s arms from her neck, set 
forth with the old Countess and her Maids of Honour 
to meet her foe in Tilsit. 

She knew that she must smile when her heart was 
weeping for her country; she knew that she must be 
pleasant and beg favours of the man who had treated 
her as no woman has ever before been treated in history. 

“ Truly,” she said to the old Countess, “ 1 am like 
Atlas, and carry the sorrow of the world.” 

The Countess pressed her hand and listened while 


THE FOES MEET 257 

the Queen continued, for to her she might say things 
which might distress her husband. 

“ I cannot, I may not forget the King in this crisis. 
He is very unfortunate and possesses a true soul, but 
how with my broken wing ” — she had not been well and 
was very nervous, always having to stand the noise of 
the children and the laughter of the Maids of Honour 
in the tiny house in Memel — “ can I do anything? How 
can I do anything? ” she repeated pathetically. 

Full of foreboding, she and the Countess and the 
Maid of Honour, Countess Tauentzein, came to Tilsit, 
or rather to the village of Piktupohnen, where her 
husband was in lodgings because of the truce with 
Napoleon. 

The State Minister Hardenburg, General Kalreuth, 
and the Czar surrounded her. 

“Plead with Napoleon,” they urged, “for Silesia, 
for Westphalia, and for Magdeburg, but especially for 
Magdeburg.” 

Napoleon, who, having all he wanted, was more ami- 
able, sent greetings at once to Louisa, explaining that 
according to the terms of the truce he could not come 
to Piktupohnen, and therefore he entreated her to come 
to Tilsit that he might pay her his respects immedi- 
ately. 

His state carriage, drawn by eight horses and es- 


258 TWO ROYAL FOES 

corted by splendid French dragoons, conveyed them to 

a plain, two-story house in Tilsit. 

An hour later a messenger announced her royal foe, 
the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. 

According to etiquette, the Queen awaited him at the 
head of the stairs, a smile of welcome forced by polite- 
ness to her lips. 

“What this costs me,” she had said to her ladies, 
“ God alone knows, for if I do not positively hate this 
man, I cannot help looking on him as the man who 
has made the King and the whole nation miserable. It 
will be very difficult for me to be courteous, but that is 
required of me.” 

The two Countesses were, by accident, in the hall be- 
low when the King met the Emperor and conducted 
him in. 

The Countess von Voss, who hated him with all her 
old heart, shrugged her shoulders at the sight of the 
small, bloated-looking man who stared at her rudely. 

With him came Talleyrand, his famous Minister, his 
eyes alert, his expression watchful. 

The Emperor lifted his eyes ; his whole face softened; 
for, standing with her hand on the rail of the stair, he 
saw a slight, graceful woman, golden-haired, and ar- 
rayed in a white gown of tissue, or gauze, a narrow 
ribbon sash tied short-waisted fashion, its ends hanging 


THE FOES MEET 259 

to the embroidered border of her gown ; her mantle on 
her shoulders, a tiny tissue scarf twisted across her 
throat, like a frame for her face of loveliness. 

Never had “ The Rose of the King ” looked more 
beautiful, for excitement had brought back colour to 
pale cheeks, a fire to eyes faded from weeping. And 
about her whole figure was a girlish pathos. 

Napoleon mounted the stairs heavily, for he had 
grown very stout in Prussia. 

“ I am sorry,” said the Queen, her sweet voice wel- 
coming him, “ that you have had to mount so incon- 
venient a staircase.” 

Napoleon stared in the bold, rude way he did at 
everybody. 

“ One cannot be afraid of difficulties,” he said, with 
a bow, “ with such an object in view.” And he gazed at 
her with bold admiration. 

“ And while reaching up to attain the reward at the 
end,” he added, again bowing. 

“ For those who are favoured by Heaven,” returned 
the Queen, “ there are no difficulties on earth.” 

Napoleon made no answer, but stared at her as if 
enchanted. 

Approaching, he touched the material of her dress, 
like a child. 

“ Is it crepe,” he inquired, “ or Indian gauze? ” 


260 TWO ROYAL FOES 

The Queen’s face flushed, but she controlled herself 
most beautifully. 

“ Shall we talk of light things at such a moment? ” 
she asked, and led the way into the room prepared for 
his reception. 

Then she inquired concerning his health, adding the 
hope that the severe climate of North Germany had 
agreed with him. 

44 The French soldier,” he answered bluntly, 44 is 
hardened to bear every kind of climate.” 

Then he looked at her curiously, as if making a 
study of the woman of whom he had heard so much and 
whom he had treated so cruelly, and who, in that poor 
little house in Tilsit, stood before him as bravely as the 
Duchess had in Weimar. 

He admired her beauty, but her sorrows were abso- 
lutely nothing to him. In a short time he was to divorce 
the wife who had borne with his weaknesses and who 
loved him through many long years of both joy and 
trouble. So he was not likely to treat the Queen of 
Prussia very gently, merely because she was a woman 
who loved her husband and her country. 

44 How could you think of making war upon me ? ” 
he demanded. 

Though his manner and tones were irritating, the 
Queen took no offence, but answered politely: 


THE FOES MEET 261 

“ We were mistaken in our calculations on our re- 
sources,” she said. 

44 And you trusted in Frederick’s fame and deceived 
yourselves — Prussia, I mean.” Napoleon swung his rid- 
ing whip to and fro as she talked, and stared steadily. 

The Queen’s blue eyes met his bold ones, though they 
filled a little as she continued : 

44 Sire, on the strength of the great Frederick’s fame 
we may be excused for having been mistaken with re- 
spect to our own powers, if, indeed, we have entirely 
deceived ourselves.” 

Napoleon’s face softened quickly. He tried to change 
the subject, but the Queen, treating him as a kind man 
and a friend, told him in an almost girlish way of all 
her sufferings, of all she had endured, and why she had 
come to Tilsit. He tried again and again to change the 
subject, but she persisted, beseeching him to be kind and 
merciful, for the love of man and because of the laws 
of justice with which God rules all the kingdoms. 

Napoleon’s answer was all kindness. He had never 
seen such a woman. She had not a thought for herself, 
and when she spoke of her husband the tears splashed 
down her cheeks on the crepe dress the Emperor had 
admired so openly. 

44 Sire,” implored the sweetest voice that ever had 
fallen on his ears, 44 be kind, be generous, be merciful 


£62 TWO ROYAL FOES 

to your fallen foe. Sire,” the Queen gazed like a child 

in his face, “ give us Madgeburg, only Magdeburg.” 

The conqueror of Europe wavered. 

“ You ask a great deal,” he said dubiously, “ but I 
will think of it.” 

Why not make this lovely woman happy? he tells us 
that he thought, and kindness for a moment entirely 
changed his countenance. 

Now, of all men in the world, the King of Prussia 
was the most unlucky. There was no one who could so 
irritate Napoleon as he could, and at that moment his 
entering the room probably changed the history of 
Prussia ; at least. Napoleon himself says it did. 

But he had begun to be uneasy waiting below. He 
thought he could help matters, and in his zeal entered, 
and entered at the wrong moment. 

There he stood, handsome, dignified and honest-faced, 
wanting, as always, to do the right thing, and blun- 
dering. 

For once the Queen had no smile ready for him, and 
her face showed her chagrin, for Napoleon, catching 
himself up hastily, with a relieved face turned to Fred- 
erick William. 

“ Sire,” he said, “ I admire the magnanimity and 
tranquillity of your soul amid such numerous and 
heavy misfortunes.” 


THE FOES MEET 


263 

The King of Prussia had his feelings. If he was con- 
quered by the man who was complimenting his behav- 
iour, he was a Hohenzollem, but alas, too, he was 
tactless. 

44 Greatness and tranquillity of soul,” he answered 
shortly, 44 can only be acquired by the strength of a 
good conscience.” 

Never did King make a more unfortunate answer. 

Napoleon turned away with a glare, and after invit- 
ing the King and Queen to dine with him, departed, 
followed by Talleyrand, his whole mood changed to 
hardness. 

When they were below the Minister looked inquiringly 
at the Emperor. 

44 1 knew,” said Napoleon, his eyes firing, 44 that I 
should see a beautiful woman and a Queen with dignified 
manners, but I found a most admirable Queen and at 
the same time the most interesting woman I ever met 
with.” Again his face looked soft and almost yielding. 

Talleyrand’s laughter rang out in sarcastic mockery. 

44 And so, sire,” he said, with a sneer, 44 you will sacri- 
fice the fruits of victory to a beautiful woman. What 
will the world say? ” His voice was mocking. 

Napoleon flushed and bit his lip, the hard look re- 
turning. 

Talleyrand, seizing the moment, hastened to show 


264 TWO ROYAL FOES 

what a gain Magdeburg would be to French interests 

and how its loss would cripple Napoleon. 

“You cannot give it up, sire,” he pleaded; “you 
cannot.” 

Napoleon, his lips curling in amusement, shook his 
head. He was again the Emperor, the Conqueror. 

“ No, no,” he answered, “ Magdeburg is worth a 
hundred Queens.” 

Then he laughed, as if he had escaped a great weak- 
ness, and his eyes narrowed. 

“ Happily,” he swung his whip, “ the husband came 
in, and trying to put his word into the conversation, 
spoilt the whole affair and I was delivered.” 

As for the Queen, she was repeating every word of 
Napoleon’s to Frederick William. 

“ He promised, Fritz,” and she clung to his hand, 
“ that he would think of it. Moreover,” she added, “ I 
shall see him at dinner. Something then may be done.” 
And she caressed him tenderly, her whole body quivering 
from the strain she had been under. 

In honour of Napoleon, Queen Louisa arrayed herself 
for the dinner in her most regal splendour. Her dress 
was white, most delicately embroidered, a velvet and 
ermine mantle flowed from her shoulders, a diamond 
star shone in her golden hair, and the crown of Prussia 


the foes meet 

Was arranged to surmount her exquisite tissue, or gauze, 
turban. 

When her maid had given the last touch she stood 
before her mirror in the small Tilsit house. Near by 
stood her dearest friend, Frau von Berg, gazing at her 
in loving admiration. 

But the Queen’s thoughts were bitter. With a shrug 
she turned from the mirror to her companion. 

“ Do you remember, dear friend,” she asked, with a 
sad smile, “ how the old Germans of the pagan times 
used to dress the maidens they would sacrifice to their 
gods in gorgeous raiment and j ewels ? ” 

Frau von Berg nodded. 

“ Yes, dear Queen,” she said, the tears starting. 

“ I am such a victim,” said the Queen. “ But the 
question is, will the angry god whom the world now 
adores be, through me, appeased and reconciled? ” 

Frau von Berg had no answer. 

Then in came the two Countesses in splendid raiment, 
and off went the Prussian Court to dine with Napoleon. 


CHAPTER XX 
THE ANSWER 

Certainly Napoleon was most courteous. 

He was at the carriage door to open it for Queen 
Louisa. He led her to the table and placed her by his 
side, the King of Prussia sitting on his left, and the 
Czar by Queen Louisa. 

The table was long, it was well set, and there were 
many guests arrayed in court splendour, but one person 
did the talking, and that person was Napoleon. 

The Queen, alone, was expected to answer. 

Why, he began, had she been so foolish as to go to 
the seat of war? Did she know that Napoleon’s hussars 
had almost captured her? 

The Queen with a smile shook her head. 

“ No, no, sire,” she said with forced gaiety, “ that 
I cannot believe. I never saw a Frenchman while I was 
on that journey.” 

“ But why did you expose yourself to danger ? ” per- 
sisted the Emperor, though he knew quite well that it 
was an old Prussian custom for Queens to accompany 
their husbands to the battle. 


266 


THE ANSWER 267 

“ Why did you not await my arrival at Weimar?” he 
asked. 

44 Really, sire,” said the poor Queen, trying to be 
merry, 44 I felt no inclination to do so.” 

At that Napoleon laughed and changed the subject, 
without a thought for all the Queen had endured on 
her journey. 

44 How is it that the Queen of Prussia wears a tur- 
ban? That,” he added, 44 is not complimentary to the 
Emperor of Russia, who is at war with the Turk.” 

Now, the Queen of Prussia knew how to make a 
pretty answer. It was one of her charms. 

44 1 think,” and she smiled, 44 it is rather to compli- 
ment Rustan,” and she glanced at Napoleon’s favourite 
Eastern servant, who, wearing a superb turban, stood 
behind the chair of his imperial master. 

Napoleon was delighted, and the two began to discuss 
the province of Silesia and the old ones of Prussia, 
which now were perhaps to be ceded to France. 

Frederick William, who had been silent, at once ex- 
pressed his opinion, and, as usual, got into trouble with 
Napoleon. 

44 Your Majesty,” he said, and his brow darkened, 
while he twisted his handkerchief and knotted it in a 
way he had, 44 does not know how grievous it is to lose 
territories which have descended through a long line of 


m TWO ROYAL FOES 

ancestors, territories which are, in fact, the cradle of 
one’s race,” he added gloomily. 

Now, Napoleon was a man who had made his own 
fortunes, his name had not been royal, and his race had 
no «uch cradle. 

A sarcastic smile played on his lips and a laugh of 
derision rang through the room. 

“ Cradle ! ” he said, and his lips curled in amusement. 
" When the child has grown to be a man he has not 
much time to think about his cradle ! ” 

The guests gazed down at their plates. 

Why on earth had the King spoken? 

But the Queen saved the day. 

“ The mother’s heart,” she said, “ is the most lasting 
cradle.” 

Then she enquired about Madame Bonaparte, whom 
above all living people Napoleon honoured, and the 
Empress Josephine, and Napoleon’s good humour came 
back and he talked steadily through the whole dinner, 
everybody being forced to listen and eat in silence. 

“ That odious man,” whispered the Countess Tauent- 
zein, when at last they arose from dinner; “ he has 
the manners of a peasant.” 

“ And how ugly,” answered Countess von Voss. “ Did 
you notice how fat he is, and how bloated his face, and 
how brown his complexion? ” 



an 



E|iij 

JL 



44 Sire , rc’i/A 



o 












THE ANSWER 


269 


“ He is altogether without figure, the wretch ! ” an- 
swered the other. “ See how he rolls his great eyes, and 
how severe is his expression ! ” 

“ But his mouth is beautiful,” admitted the old Coun- 
tess, “ and his teeth perfect. But see how he looks the 
very picture of success ! ” She lowered her voice cau- 
tiously. “ But what a happy day it will be for the world 
when God takes him ! ” 

As for Napoleon, his eyes never left the Queen. He 
followed her everywhere. 

For a moment she stood alone in the room, in whose 
window-seat stood a pot in which grew a rosebush with 
one lovely flower. 

Napoleon broke' off its stem, and bearing it in his 
hand he approached the Queen and offered it to her, 
smiling. 

“ Sire,” she said, her blue eyes pleading, “ with 
Magdeburg? ” 

Napoleon still offered the rose, his face flushing. 

“ I must point out to your Majesty,” he said, 
“ that it is for me to beg, for you to accept, or de- 
cline.” 

It was the Queen’s turn to flush. 

“ There is no rose without a thorn,” she said, “ but 
these thorns,” she gazed at the rose, “ are too sharp for 
me.” 


270 TWO ROYAL FOES 

And turning, she left Napoleon with a rose in his 
hand, his lips pressing themselves togther. 

He had given the Queen her answer. Prussia was to 
lose Magdeburg. The Queen had appealed in vain. 

The banquet ended in a dance, and at a late hour the 
King and Queen returned to their lodgings in Piktu- 
pohnen. 

The next day the King and Napoleon had a talk, and 
those listening heard hot words and angry voices. 

Frederick William was entreating for Magdeburg. 
Napoleon answering with scowling insolence. 

66 You forget,” said the Emperor, his eyes narrowing, 
66 that you are not in a position to negotiate. Under- 
stand that I wish to keep Prussia down and to hold 
Magdeburg that I may enter Berlin when I wish to. I 
believe in the stability of but two sentiments — vengeance 
and hatred. For the future, the Prussians must hate 
the French; but I will put it out of their power to 
injure them.” 

Again, that day, the Queen was forced to dine with 
Napoleon. She prayed to be excused, but all begged her 
to go. It would appear better, for the treaty now was 
signed. 

“ I have given Prussia a few concessions because of 
its Queen,” announced Napoleon, but what they were it 
was hard to guess. 


THE ANSWER 271 

The King of Prussia must give up half of his domin- 
ions ; he must reduce his army to 42,000 men ; he must 
pay 140,000,000 francs as the cost of the war, and he 
must acknowledge the Confederation of the Rhine and 
all the kingdoms Napoleon might set up anywhere. 
Jerome Bonaparte, as King of Westphalia, was to re- 
ceive half of the Kingdom of Prussia. 

Knowing this, the Queen sat in her ermine and jewels ; 
she talked with Napoleon, she smiled, she thanked him 
for his hospitality. 

When she left he led her to the carriage. 

44 I regret, your Majesty,” he said, 44 that I must not 
do what you asked me.” 

44 And I regret,” said the Queen, 44 that, having had 
the honour of knowing the hero of the age, whom I can 
never forget, the impression left on my mind must 
always be painful. Had you been generous, sire, I would 
be bound to you by an everlasting gratitude.” 

44 Indeed, your Majesty,” returned Napoleon, 44 1 la- 
ment that so it must be ; it is my evil destiny.” 

44 And I have been cruelly deceived,” were the Queen’s 
last words, and off drove her carriage. 

The two Royal Foes parted, never again to meet. 

That day Louisa thought herself the vanquished, and 
before the world Napoleon wore the laurels of victory. 
Seventy years later the President of France wrote that 


272 TWO ROYAL FOES 

it was his belief that, at Tilsit, Napoleon was con- 
quered; that had he then been generous and bound the 
King and Queen of Prussia to him by a tie of gratitude 
his last days need not, perhaps, have been spent on the 
island of St. Helena, for in his troubles they would have 
been his ally. 

When the Queen reached her room she turned to her 
ladies in tears. 

“ When I am dead,” she said, “ it will be as with 
Queen Mary of England; not Calais, but Magde- 
burg will be graven on my poor heart in letters of 
blood.” 

Peace was signed on the seventh, and on June 24 
Napoleon, in triumph, entered Frankfort-on-Main, and 
three days later he arrived at his palace at Saint Cloud 
and immediately was off again, marching armies into 
Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Austria. 

u Peace is made,” wrote Queen Louisa to her f ather, 
“ but at a dreadful price. Our boundary will only go as 
far as the Elbe. Yet is the King greater than his adver- 
sary. After Eylau he could have made a more advan- 
tageous peace, but then he must have followed wicked 
principles, and now he has acted through necessity and 
not forsworn himself. That must bring a blessing on 
Prussia. After Eylau he would not desert a faithful 
ally. Once more, I repeat, it is my firnj belief that this 


THE ANSWER 273 

conduct of the King will bring good fortune to 
Prussia.” 

Napoleon had insisted upon the dismissal of Harden- 
burg as Prime Minister, and in September the King 
called Stein to his assistance. From the Queen this 
great man received a letter. 

“ I conjure you,” she wrote, for he had made some 
objections to remaining in office with a certain fellow 
minister, “ have but patience in the first few months. 
For Heaven’s sake, do not let the good cause be lost 
for want of three months’ patience. I conjure, for the 
the sake of the King, of the country, of my children, 
for my own sake, patience! Louisa.” 

As for Baron von Stein, he had at heart only the 
good of Prussia, and waited. 

The war was ended. Prussia was in the dust ; its King 
and Queen exiled from the capital. Crops were ruined, 
villages were burned, and this poor, unhappy country 
must pay its war debt. 

“ Now, God be everlastingly praised,” wrote the poor 
Queen, “ that my daughter, who would now be almost 
fifteen years old, came dead into the world.” 

“ I must play my life days in this unlucky time,” she 
said. “ Perhaps God gave me my living children that 
one of them might bring good to mankind,” 


274 TWO ROYAL FOES 

And there was one who did the great things the 
Queen dreamed of. 

It was not the handsome Crown Prince, though he 
was a clever monarch; it was not Princess Charlotte, 
though she became Empress of Russia ; it was not Alex- 
andria, who, a lovely old lady, died only a year or 
two ago as Dowager Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg; 
nor jolly Carl, nor Louisa, nor Albert, who came later. 

It was simple, honourable, sensible little William. 
Every pain his mother felt sank deeply into his heart, 
and at last the day came when he led the Prussian army 
to the great battle of Sedan, where he conquered the 
nephew of Napoleon and created the German Empire. 

But no one dreamed of this that dreary summer in 
Memel, and though the Queen did her best to be cheer- 
ful, all who loved her saw that the canker-worm of 
sorrow was drawing nearer and nearer the heart of the 
beautiful “ Rose of the King,” the flower whose stem 
had been so roughly handled by its enemy. 


CHAPTER XXI 


THE HERR LIEUTENANT 

When Franz again opened his eyes it was to see a 
little figure sitting near by with her knitting. 

“ Am I crazy ? ” He gazed about the room in which 
he found himself lying. 

He saw a huge porcelain stove of green and white 
and blue and yellow, with a pelican on top for an orna- 
ment. A chest of drawers boasted a vase of roses, and 
there were pretty white curtains to the window. 

“ Bettina,” he said, “ Bettina ! ” 

She ran to him, her blue eyes eager. 

“ Ach ja,” said Franz, “but it is the same Bet- 
tina.” 

Yes, it was the old Bettina with the bright, eager 
eyes, the golden hair, but it was Bettina grown older. 

“ God be praised,” she said, her eyes dancing ; “ I 
will call your Frau Mother.” 

He was home, but how had he come there? 

There was Madame von Stork, the tears flowing; 
there was his father; Pauline, too; how handsome she 
was! And Marianne; but how serious she had grown! 
And the twins. 


275 


276 TWO ROYAL FOES 

“ Come here, Use. The other hand, Elchen ! And 
Carlchen, how big you are ! 99 

The children, hanging their heads, were pushed to the 
bed by Marianne. 

Franz’s eyes sought other figures. 

“ Wolfgang? ” he said. “ And Otto ; where is Otto? ” 

It was days before he heard all the news, and it was 
days before he learned all that had happened. 

Wolfgang was dead. 

The Herr Lieutenant turned his face away. 

Otto had run off, and no one knew where he was. 

The rascal! That was exactly like Otto. 

As for the Herr Lieutenant himself, the peasant boy 
had come for the Professor. The French soldiers had 
fired the house and the peasants had fled at once to 
Memel. 

It was all very simple. Peace was made now, and his 
father had brought him in a carriage. He for days had 
remained unconscious. They were all soon to move to 
Konigsberg, and Franz was to go also, and Otto must 
come home now, for the war was over. 

Then Marianne, who came in often and sat with her 
tent stitch, told him how the poor Queen had been de- 
ceived by Napoleon, how she had believed in his promise 
and had not been well from the shock of disappointment 
since she had returned from Tilsit. 


THE HERR LIEUTENANT 277 

And when Marianne was gone, in came his mother 
and she wept over Wolfgang and Otto and told him how 
Ludwig Brandt, who was soon to be betrothed to Pauline, 
was always at Konigsberg, for there were great plans 
among the students in which Ludwig was helping, plans 
for rousing the nation against Napoleon. 

Then she told of Marianne, and of how she was now 
a great comfort. 

“ And it is all because of our good Queen,” she as- 
sured him, and related how Marianne now adored her 
instead of Goethe, and of how she had gone all winter 
to make lint and to read aloud to her Majesty. 

“ And she has now a longing to be useful,” said 
Madame von Stork, her face brightening. “ At first it 
was to be useful in some highflown way,” she added. 

At that Franz laughed merrily. 

“ That is like Marianne,” he said, “ exactly, dear 
mother.” 

“ She wanted to nurse the soldiers,” continued Ma- 
dame von Stork, “ but our good Queen assured her that 
she was far too young and that home is the true place 
for a German maiden. She told her how she herself had 
never interfered in politics, but had been content to be 
a good wife and mother. 

“ And so,” concluded Madame von Stork, 6C each day 
she becomes more of a comfort. God be praised,” she 


278 TWO ROYAL FOES 

added, 44 that we came to Memel. Our Queen is an ex- 
ample to all German women.” 

44 She is an angel,” said Franz, who like all the sol- 
diers adored Queen Louisa. 

The very first day Franz asked about Hans. 

44 We had thought him dead,” explained his father. 
44 The King had news of his disappearance and believed 
him to have been shot as a spy. But when you were 
brought home the peasant told me the soldiers had 
marched him away with them and I could do nothing.” 

44 He will probably soon arrive in Memel,” said Franz, 
44 now peace is made.” 

44 The soldiers about Tilsit knew nothing of him. Why 
they took him prisoner I have no idea, but can only 
wonder,” added his father. 

But the days passed, and no Hans came, and the 
weeks went by and turned into months. 

Bettina, though, was sure that he would come to 
her. 

44 He promised,” she said, 44 that when peace was made 
we should go back to our dear Thuringia.” 

She had wept bitterly when Elsa had come out with 
the news of his death, but only for a moment. 

44 That is my grandfather’s writing,” she had said, 
44 and so he must be living.” 

And now she still believed in his coming. 


THE HERR LIEUTENANT 279 

Nothing, however, could make Marianne happy, for 
the Queen’s health seemed to fail entirely. 

As the summer advanced to autumn, and autumn 
marched into winter the winds of Memel grew fiercer and 
fiercer. With their coming the Queen lost her colour, 
her cheerfulness was forced, and she drooped like a 
flower. 

One thing alone comforted both her and the King, 
a letter from the people of Westphalia, who must now 
belong to Napoleon. 

Frederick William had bade them farewell, telling 
them that he felt like a father separating from his 
children, that it was only necessity which made him yield 
them to their new ruler. 

The Westphalians answered him like children. 

“ When we read thy farewell,” they wrote, <c our 
hearts were breaking; we could not believe that we 
should cease to be thy faithful subjects, we who have 
always loved thee so much. As true as we live, it is not 
thy fault that after the battle of Jena thy scattered 
armies were not led to our country to join with our 
militia in a fresh combat. We would have staked our 
lives and have saved the country, for our warriors have 
marrow in their bones and their souls are not yet in- 
fested with the canker. 

“ Our wives nourish their children with their own milk, 


280 TWO ROYAL FOES 

our daughters are no puppets of fashion, we desire to 
keep free from the pestilential spirit of the age. Yet 
we cannot change the decrees of Providence. Farewell, 
then, thou good old King. God grant that the remainder 
of thy country may furnish thee with wise ministers and 
truer generals than those which have brought affliction 
on thee. It is not for us to struggle against our fate, 
we must with manly fortitude submit to what we can- 
not alter. May God be with us and give us a new 
ruler who will likewise be the father of the country, may 
he respect our language, our manners, our religion, and 
our municipalities as thou hast done, our dear, 
good King. God grant thee peace, health, and hap- 
piness.” 

Such a letter was a great comfort to the Queen, and 
though her heart was very heavy, she occupied herself 
first in the sale of her jewels, then she and the King sent 
all their golden dishes to the mint to be turned into 
money. She bought only simple dresses and tried to set 
all the people of the Court an example of patience and 
cheerfulness. She talked much with good Bishop Eylert 
and Bishop Borowsky. 

One Sunday the Bishop found her alone in her sitting- 
room reading her Bible. 

When he entered she greeted him with a smile and they 
sat and talked over the 120th Psalm. 


THE HERR LIEUTENANT 281 

In a firm, clear voice the Queen repeated aloud all its 
verses. 

“ In thy light,” she said, “ shall we see light.” And 
then she told the Bishop how, though her foe had con- 
quered her and taken away her kingdom, she firmly be- 
lieved that God would send His light and show to all 
the reasons of the wars of Napoleon. 

“ I think,” she said, “ it is wise to study a portion 
of Scripture each day, really study it.” The King, com- 
ing in, agreed. 

Then the Bishop suggested that each should choose a 
book. 

“ I,” said the Queen, “ choose Psalms.” 

fi< And I,” said the King, “ select the book of Daniel, 
because it teaches that kingdoms do not rise and fall 
by chance. God’s ways may often seem to us dark and 
mysterious, but we may feel assured that they are always 
holy, wise, and salutary. By His wisdom and mercy this 
world is so ordered that evil works out its own destruc- 
tion, and good, — that is, all that agrees with the will 
of God, — must avail at last.” 

When Marianne heard of this study of the Queen, 
she, too, selected a book, and decided upon Psalms be- 
cause the Queen had selected it for her study. 

Now and then, however, pleasant things happened. 

The house where the King and Queen lived was so 


282 TWO ROYAL FOES 

small that there was no room for the children. There- 
fore Prince Frederick and Prince William lived in the 
house of a wealthy merchant named Argelander. 

“ To-day,” said the Queen one morning, “ is Frau 
Argelander’s birthday. We hear that for fear of dis- 
turbing the Princes she has gone to the country to have 
her feast with her friends. Come, then, let us decorate 
her house and send a message for her to come and en- 
joy it.” 

Everyone was delighted to see the Queen again lively. 
Marianne ran to the Stork’s Nest and sent all the chil- 
dren for evergreens, the ladies hurried to the shops and 
purchased little gifts, and the great work began. 

A servant flew about Memel with invitations, and by 
late afternoon all was ready and a messenger departed 
to fetch Frau Argelander. 

“ My goodness, oh, Heaven ! ” cried the ladies when 
he returned with the message that Frau Argelander 
begged to be excused, as she was enjoying her feast 
with her friends, and did not need in the least her 
house, which the Princes were free to use as they would. 

Nobody knew what to do, but the Queen arranged a 
plan. 

“ You go, Fritz,” she said to the Crown Prince, “ take 
the carriage and fetch Frau Argelander.” 

And this time the lady appeared with many apologies 


THE HERR LIEUTENANT 283 

to find lights streaming from her windows, decorations 
everywhere, garlands wreathing the doors, and presents 
spread on a table. Beneath the chandelier in the Saal 
stood the Queen, lovely in white, a Prince on each side, 
Charlotte and Carl "and Alexandrina grouped about all 
holding boquets in their hands to present to the lady 
who had been so kind to them in their trouble. 

“ Dear Frau Argelander, dear Birthday Child ! ” cried 
the Queen, and slipped on the lady’s plump arm a brace- 
let containing the hair of the two Princes. 

Then did the Queen begin the festivities, part of the 
fun being the reading of a poem on each present, writ- 
ten at the command of the Queen by a Memel poet. 

Marianne was standing near the table on which were 
the presents when Franz, who was well, now turned 
towards her smiling. 

“ Mariechen,” he said in German, for after a talk 
or two with Ludwig Brandt he no longer spoke the 
fashionable French, but always his own language, 
“ do you remember what Schlegel wrote about our 
Queen ? ” 

Marianne shook her head. 

“ I have never heard it.” 

Franz, in low tones, repeated the words : 

“She would be a Queen if she lived in a cottage, 

The Queen of every heart.” 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


28 4 . 

Marianne’s eyes danced. 

“ Oh, Franz,” she cried, “ oh, brother, how, how 
lovely ! ” 

“ And it is true,” said Franz, gazing about the room, 
his eye resting on the handsome old Countess, looking 
bored because of her love of her own Saal in the evening, 
yet brightening if the Queen so much as looked at her, 
at the Princes and Princesses hanging on their mother’s 
words, at the young poet, happy ever in the honour done 
his verses, at Frau Argelander, at the people of Memel. 

“ Ja, ja,” he said, “ the Angel of Prussia, the Queen 
of Every Heart ! ” 

But there was one person who was determined not to 
let the Queen of Prussia be happy. 

“ Pay your war debt. Pay me what you owe,” Na« 
poleon kept crying. 

The King of Prussia, who had no money, begged for 
time, and he would pay everything. 

“ Pay me, and at once,” insisted Napoleon. 

What was the King to do ? He had no money. 

Then his brother, Prince William, had an idea. 

“ There is no gold,” he said, “ how can we pay? I will 
go to Paris and entreat Napoleon to have mercy.” 

He said this in public, but his real plan, told only to 
his wife, was to offer himeslf as a hostage until Prussia 
could pay her debt. 


THE HERR LIEUTENANT 285 

“ I will join you,” said the Princess Marianne. “ Our 
little Amelia died in our flight from Dantzic and I can 
be as happy with you in a prison as in a palace.” 

So the Prince departed, and the King and Queen 
waited. 

The great scientist, Alexander von Humboldt, pre- 
pared Napoleon for his coming and he was received with 
both politeness and kindness. 

At once, with glowing face, he offered himself as a 
hostage for his country. 

Napoleon embraced him. 

“ That is very noble,” he said, “ but impossible.” For 
he wanted money, not Princes. 

When the news of this act spread through Germany 
it fired the people like a draught of strong wine. 

“We will rise! ” they cried. “ Our Prince has set us 
an example! We will throw off the yoke of the op- 
pressor ! ” 

And so, in the darkest hour of the Fatherland, patri- 
otism began to blaze brightly. 

The French having evacuated Konigsberg, the Queen 
longed to leave Memel, whose winds had never agreed 
with her. 

“ Do, Majesty,” urged Baron Stein, advising the 
King, “ it is more dignified that you hold Court in a 
large city like Konigsberg.” 


286 TWO ROYAL FOES 

While all this was being discussed, to the surprise of 
the von Storks, the Queen sent one day for Bettina. 

44 What can she want ? ” and Madame von Stork made 
Bettina ready, brushing her hair, putting on a blue dress 
Pauline had made her, and seeing that the elastics of her 
slippers were in exact order. 

Bettina went alone, the Queen requiring it, and with 
eyes eager, her bright smile on her lips, the little girl 
appeared before her. 

44 Dear child,” said the Queen, 46 1 have sent for you 
because I have some news to tell you.” 

Then she explained that she feared Bettina’s grand- 
father might not return to Memel, that Professor von 
Stork had many to care for, and that she, the Queen, 
meant in the future to provide for Bettina. 

44 My dear people of Berlin,” she told her, 44 have 
founded a home for orphans in my honour. The Luisen- 
stift, they will call it. Now, dear Bettina, I am to name 
and support four of these children and I have selected 
you as one of them.” 

Poor Bettina! Her little heart sank. Must she leave 
the Stork’s Nest, must she go among strangers? 

The Queen understood. 

44 You cannot, dear child,” she said like a mother, 
44 always live with the good Professor. Go happily, dear 
child, to this Home. It will help the good Professor to 



“ I have some news to tell you ” 









































’ I 





























THE HERR LIEUTENANT 287 
have you cared for. You may visit them in your holi- 
days, and, if you are a good girl and study well, one 
day you may come and live at Court and be a maid to 
Princess Charlotte, or my little Alexandrina. Would 
you not like that? ” And the Queen smiled enchantingly. 

Bettina’s eyes glowed. 

To be always near her Majesty! What happiness! 

“ But go now,” said the Queen, “ and tell the Herr 
Professor that I will talk this over with him before he 
moves his family to Konigsberg, and after Christmas 
I shall send you to Berlin, to the Luisenstift. Until then, 
be happy ! ” 

“ My grandfather will come,” thought Bettina; “ the 
Queen is good, but we will go to Thuringia and I shall 
see Hans and the baby, my godmother and Willy.” 

And she believed this so firmly that she hardly wor- 
ried over the Orphan Asylum. 

But the Professor was relieved. Money was scarce. 
He had many children, and he thanked the Queen over 
and over for her goodness. 


CHAPTER XXII 

DAYS OF DARKNESS 

All the Storks, grown and children, liked their new 
Nest in Konigsberg. 

It was a city, and there was more to amuse one than 
in Memel. But life still had its troubles both for them, 
for the Queen, and for Prussia. 

One day Marianne was standing with the children on 
the bridge of Kantstrasse. They were looking down at 
the Fish Market and laughing at the fish women from 
the Baltic as they sold their fish. There were Dutch ves- 
sels in the Pregel, and queer sailors, and Marianne told 
the twins to look at the queer signs hanging on the 
houses on the bank. “ When the Poles were here,” she 
explained, “ each man painted the sign of his trade and 
swung it from his house. See, that was a shoemaker, 
there was a tailor.” 

While they talked, people were passing along Kant- 
strasse by the dozens, professors going to and fro, 
town people, soldiers, sailors or fishers from the Baltic. 

Presently along came Franz. 

When he saw the little group he smiled and joined 
them. 


DAYS OF DARKNESS 289 

While they watched the scene he told them a dreadful 
story of Napoleon, of something which had helped bring 
on the war. 

“ It roused all Prussia,” he said. 

It was the story of the bookseller, Palm of Nurem- 
berg. 

In that quaint old town where they make the toys of 
the world, where the famous Albrecht Diirer once lived 
and drew and painted, had lived a certain honest young 
man named Palm, and his young wife, Anna. He was a 
bookseller, and respected by everybody. 

One day he received a package of books by mail which 
he was to sell in his shop. The name of the book was 
“ Germany in Her Deepest Degradation,” but it was 
anonymous. 

Herr Bookseller Palm placed the books in his shop as 
requested. 

A little later he was arrested by order of Napoleon 
and threatened with death unless he revealed the name 
of the author. 

Palm had one answer. The books had been sent him 
without a name, and that was all he knew. 

There was much more, but Franz first told how Palm, 
who had hidden, was arrested by a trick. A man pre- 
tended to be in great trouble from which only Palm 
could save him. The kind bookseller came forward to 


290 TWO ROYAL FOES 

see the messenger, was seized, dragged off, and shot 
without proper trial, though the women of the town ap- 
peared before the judges clamouring for mercy, and 
his poor young wife implored his life from Napoleon’s 
officers. Only a good Roman Catholic priest supported 
him to the end, although Palm was a Lutheran. “ Shot 
down like a dog ! ” cried Franz hotly. 

Marianne’s tears fell when she heard of the suffering 
of the wife, of Palm’s goodness, his belief in God, 
and his bravery in refusing to give the name of the 
author. 

“ How I hate Napoleon ! ” cried Marianne. “ Oh, if 
I were a man and able to fight him ! ” 

Those were stormy days in Konigsberg. 

The Stork’s Nest was thronged with students and 
professors, all full of talk and bitter against Na- 
poleon. 

Ludwig stayed there always now, and he was prime 
mover in a great plan among the students, and so when 
Pauline was betrothed to him many professors and 
students came with congratulations. 

“ I shall never marry,” said Marianne, quite posi- 
tively. 

Everybody laughed, but she was herself very serious. 

“ My heart is with my country,” she said. 

In the evenings all the family gathered again about 


DAYS OF DARKNESS 291 

the big table, but instead of reading they listened now 
to talking. 

“ Stein will save our land,” said Ludwig one evening. 
“ God be praised ! The King no longer opposes him, 
but is guided by his counsel.” 

“ But will Napoleon permit him to remain? ” The 
Professor looked anxious. 

Ludwig shrugged his shoulders. 

“ At all events,” he said, “ our King’s conduct is 
noble. He had given up everything, plate, wealth, all 
he has, to help with this debt to Napoleon. The future 
is God’s, not ours.” 

As for the Queen, all Prussia sang praise of her 
nobility in going to Tilsit. 

Marianne had been once to Memel on a visit to her 
uncle Joachim, who was happy now with Rudolph at 
home again, and had been to Court and had seen 
Queen Louisa before she herself moved to Konigs- 
berg. 

She had been reading a wonderful book called “ Leon- 
ard and Gertrude.” 

“ I wish,” she told Marianne, “ that I could get into 
a carriage and start off to Switzerland and find the 
author.” 

His name was Pestalozzi, and he was full of new ideas 
of how to educate children. 


292 TWO ROYAL FOES 

But what pleased Marianne was the news that the 
Queen was soon to come to Konigsberg. 

“ But our dear Queen is not well,” said the old Coun- 
tess to Marianne. “ Since her visit ta that monster she 
lies awake at night and weeps and often suffers a pain 
in her heart, though in public she smiles and is always 
an angel.” 

“ Down with Napoleon!” called out the parrot. 
w Upstart! Villain! Monster! Down with the Em- 
peror ! ” 

The old Countess gave him a cracker. 

“ Pretty Polly,” she said. “ But now be quiet.” 

“ Upstart ! Villain ! ” repeated Polly. 

Then the Countess complained to Marianne of all the 
noise of the Royal children and of the conduct of the 
Maids of Honour. 

u One night when our dear Queen was ill the 
noise was dreadful. It woke her from a doze and I 
went out to see who was making it. And what did I 
find? ” 

The old lady shook with offended dignity. 

“ Why, the Maids of Honour, my child, flirting and 
laughing with the generals ! I spoke to the King, but, 
my dear Marianne, what good can it do ? Etiquette has 
gone entirely out of fashion! The Maids of Honour 
will have their ways, will laugh, talk, and behave in a 


DAYS OF DARKNESS 293 

way most unseemly. But never mind, we shall soon come 
to Konigsberg.” 

It was deep winter when the royal family arrived. 
The people of Memel were sad, indeed, to see them de- 
part, and the King wrote them a letter. 

“ I thank my brave citizens of Memel for their true 
and steadfast attachment to my person, my wife, and 
my whole house. Memel is the only town in my domin- 
ions which has escaped the worse calamities of the war, 
but it has proved itself capable of enduring them and 
ready, if called on, to resist the enemy. I shall never 
forget that Divine Providence preserved to us an asylum 
in this town and that its people evinced the warmest 
and most constant attachment to us.” 

The people of Konigsberg on their part were de- 
lighted. Immediately they elected the Crown Prince 
rector of their famous University. 

“ On the sixth of March,” they said, “ we will confer 
this honour on him, give a grand fete, and have a torch- 
light procession.” 

The Crown Prince, who was thirteen now, thought 
this very fine, and for a few days walked about with 
dignity, but then he grew tired of such stiffness and 
joined Prince William and his friend Rudolph von 
Auerswald, Carl von Stork, and little Prince Carl, in 
their battles against the mice and rats in the old castle. 


294 TWO ROYAL FOES 

On February the first all the bells of this old city of 
the King rang out most joyfully. 

“ We have a new little sister,” the Royal children told 
Rudolph and Carl. 

“ Her name,” said the King, “ shall be Louisa, for her 
mother.” 

“ It is because I love thee so dearly,” he said to the 
Queen, “ that I have named our youngest little daugh- 
ter, Louisa.” 

Tears started to the Queen’s eyes. 

“ May she, dear Fritz, indeed grow up to be thy 
Louisa.” 

“ I am weary,” the King said, “ of lords and ladies. 
It is the people of Prussia who have been my friends 
and helped me. Therefore, it is they who shall be 
sponsors at the baptism of my daughter.” 

So there came men to represent every class of the 
Prussian people, and they sat down to as fine a feast 
as the King’s pocketbook would permit him to give 
them. 

The Queen, who was not well, lay on a sofa and re- 
ceived all the godfathers of the tiny Louisa, and the 
baptism took place there, and not in the church, be- 
cause of the cold weather. 

The Countess von Yoss brought the baby to the 


DAYS OF DARKNESS 295 

Princess William and gave it its name of Louisa Au- 
gusta Wilhelmina Amelia for its mother. 

The court ladies all wore round skirts and tunics, 
and the Queen gave the old Countess a handsome set 
of ornaments, but they all wept bitterly for the little 
girl whose blue eyes had opened on so cold and cruel 
a world as Napoleon and winter had made East Prussia. 

When all sat at the banquet one of the godfathers 
arose and addressed the tiny Louisa, whose blue eyes 
stared at him in wonder. 

“ Louisa Wilhelmina,” he said, “ god-child of the 
people, thou art a gentle mediator between the King 
and us. Mayst thou live to stand a full-grown bloom- 
ing virgin amongst thy brothers and sisters ; may then 
thy royal house be flourishing in renewed glory. Mean- 
while, dark hours will pass like storm-birds over thy 
head — thou wilt hear the rushing of their wings, but 
it will not frighten thee. Thou, sweet one, wilt smile, 
feeling nothing but thy childish happiness and the 
charm of life. Loving arms will hold thee safely, high 
above the precipice on the edge of which we stand. May 
the future smile on us through thee. In thee we see 
thy father’s love to us, and by thy bright eyes may the 
people speak comfort to the King, saying, 6 We are 
thine, thou art our lord and master : be strong and true 


296 TWO ROYAL FOES 

to thyself. Trust not in thy councillors and thy serv- 
ants, for they are not all full of courage, nor all of 
one mind. What they have done and what they have 
left undone has brought us near to ruin. Trust thine 
own judgment, thine own heart, and we will trust in 
thee. We are all thine, master, be strong and true to 
thyself.’ ” 

But the people of Konigsberg had other things to 
think of than tiny Louisa. 

All the patriots of Germany came to and fro, among 
them Schleiermacher, who had refused to remain in 
Halle when Napoleon took the city from Frederick 
William. He believed that Austria and England would 
join in throwing off Napoleon. 

“ Now,” he said, “ while Napoleon is in Spain, let us 
do what we can.” 

For, all over Germany, the French army were still 
masters, driving people from their homes, burning vil- 
lages, doing all that Napoleon permitted. 

“Now,” cried Schleiermacher. 

“ Now,” cried Ludwig Brandt. 

“ Now,” cried all the students of the University. 

So in that summer in Konigsberg was founded a se- 
cret society called the “ Tugendbund,” or “ League of 
Virtue,” whose purpose was to spread patriotism 
throughout Germany. Members sprang up every- 


i 


BAYS OF DARKNESS m 

where, agents went to and fro, and the watchword was 
“ Secresy.” 

Nevertheless, Napoleon heard of it. 

“ Dismiss Stein,” he ordered the King, “ he is the 
founder. He shall not remain as Prussian Minister.” 

Then he put a price on this great man’s head, and he 
was forced to flee for his life to Prague in Bohemia. 
He had done his best for his country and, therefore, 
Napoleon wished to be rid of him. But it was untrue 
that he founded the “ Tugendbund.” 

“ I am heartily tired of life,” he wrote, “ and wish it 
would soon come to an end. To enjoy rest and inde- 
pendence it would be best to settle in America, in Ken- 
tucky, or Tennessee; there one would find a splendid 
climate and soil, glorious views, and rest and security 
for a century — not to mention a multitude of Germans 
— the capital of Kentucky is called Frankfort.” 

But the Prussians refused to be conquered. 

“We will outwit Napoleon, who has declared that the 
Prussian army can consist only of forty-two thousand 
soldiers,” they cried, and they drilled soldiers, sending 
set after set home, always keeping the army at forty- 
two thousand, but training every man and boy of 
Prussia. 

Otto von Stork refused to return home, but while 
he drilled away with the rest he sent letters telling of 


298 TWO ROYAL FOES 

the dreadful times of the Berliners, how they had no 
food, how even the once rich lived like beggars, how 
there was no wax for candles, and how Napoleon had 
robbed the city of all he could lay his hands upon. 

So another unhappy year for Prussia passed away 
and brought in 1809. 

The Queen’s pink cheeks had faded to white, her 
eyes showed that their blue had been washed with tears, 
and about her mouth were lines of sorrow. 

“ If posterity,” she wrote, “ will not place my name 
amongst those of illustrious women, yet those who are 
acquainted with the troubles of these times will know 
what I have gone through and will say, 4 She suffered 
much and endured with patience,’ and I only wish they 
may be able to add : 6 She gave being to children worthy 
of better times and who by their continual struggles 
have succeeded in attaining them.’ ” 

Sometimes she talked this way to the Crown Prince 
and little William, and their eyes would glow and they 
would promise that they would do great things for 
Prussia. 

When she went through Konigsberg streets, in the 
warm days when the flowers were in bloom, it was the 
joy of all the little children to offer her nosegays. 
Never did she decline one, and she always had a smile 
for everybody. 


DAYS OF DARKNESS 299 

One day came news of Otto which startled his father 
and sent his mother weeping to bed. Major Shill, a 
brave Prussian soldier, refused to stop fighting against 
Napoleon, and became a great hero of Prussia, though 
on the 30th of December, 1808, while the King and 
Queen were in St. Petersburg on a visit to the Czar 
Alexander, the Emperor had withdrawn his soldiers 
from Prussia, and the Brandenburg Hussars and a 
cavalry regiment under this Major Shill entered Berlin. 

When Napoleon began again to fight the Austrians 
Major Shill departed from Berlin against the French 
without a declaration of war, angering the King, but 
attracting a thousand to his banner. 

Among them was Otto von Stork. 

“ Do not grieve, my dear parents,” he wrote ; “ never 
shall I lay down my arms until Napoleon is defeated.” 

But what were a thousand men? 

The end came quickly. 

Ludwig brought the news to the Professor. 

“ Shill is killed,” he said ; “ shot while fighting in the 
streets of Stralsund. Twelve of his officers have been 
taken and shot by the French, the others sent to the 
galleys.” 

“ Otto ! Otto ! ” cried poor Madame von Stork ; 
“ Richard, Ludwig, where is my Otto? ” 


CHAPTER XXIII 
THE ENTRANCE INTO BERLIN 

The years marched on to another Christmas. 

Much had happened. 

Napoleon was still triumphant, for, conquering the 
Austrians, he had entered Vienna as victor. 

“ All is lost,” Queen Louisa wrote, “ if not forever, 
at least for the present.” 

As for Otto von Stork, he was not killed, but con- 
tinued fighting where he could find soldiers. 

“ All Europe must rise,” he wrote his father ; “ the 
brave Andreas Hofer is rousing the Tyrolese, and, oh, 
dear father, have you heard of the brave deed of Hay- 
dn in Vienna ? ” 

66 Haydn ? ” interrupted Marianne, and then with a 
smile she began singing <fi With Verdure Clad,” from 
the musician’s “ Creation.” Of course they all had 
heard of Haydn. Certainly the old man was a hero. 

When he heard the cannon and knew that Napoleon 
was entering his Vienna, he went to a window and 
opened the sash. 

“ Sing ! ” he cried to the people in the streets, “ sing, 
good people.” 


300 


THE ENTRANCE INTO BERLIN 301 

And then the old white-haired musician lifted his voice 
and sang his own hymn. 

“ God save our Emperor Franz ! ” rang through the 
streets, all the people joining. And when Napoleon en- 
tered they were singing at the tops of their voices. But 
the excitement was too much for Haydn. He died two 
days later. 

Then Otto was off to fight in the Tyrol. 

“ He will break my heart,” wept his mother, but the 
Herr Lieutenant’s eyes flashed. 

“ If my arm ” he began, but his mother cried 

out so that he never finished his sentence. 

Napoleon, in these days of gloom, divorced his wife, 
married the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, and 
a son was born to them, the little King of Rome, they 
called him. 

The Czar had been again with Napoleon and there 
had been a famous meeting at Erfurt, and they had 
divided the world between them, and then Alexander had 
paid his friends a visit at Memel and had been shocked 
at the appearance of the Queen. 

“Come,” he said, “to St. Petersburg and see the 
wonders of my capital. It will do the Queen good.” 

And so they went on a splendid journey and met all 
the Royal family of Russia and received honour and 
rich presents. 


30 2 TWO ROYAL FOES 

But Queen Louisa cared no more for such things as 
fine clothes, crowns, banquets and jewels. 

To her friend, Frau von Berg, she wrote: 

44 I am come back from St. Petersburg as I went. 
Nothing dazzles me now. Yes, I feel it more and more, 
my kingdom is not of this world. I have danced, dear 
friend,” she said, 44 I have been agreeable to the whole 
world, but God Almighty have mercy upon me.” 
So much did she feel the sorrows of her poor king- 
dom. 

But now the French had left Berlin entirely, and, 
at Christmas time, the year 1809, three years after 
Jena, the King and Queen were returning to their cap- 
ital. 

Marianne and her grandmother were standing on 
Unter den Linden, Ludwig and Pauline, who was now 
his wife, not far off. Again there were flags and gar- 
lands, and again the people everywhere. 

44 The Berliners have sent our Queen a new carriage 
lined with her favourite violet,” and Marianne smiled 
in gladness. 

44 Ach, ja,” said her grandmother, who now spoke 
German. 44 We can do such things now, but formerly 
that monster Napoleon would not even permit us to 
Celebrate her birthday.” 

And she told Marianne of the actor, Iffland, who had 


THE ENTRANCE INTO BERLIN 303 

t 

had courage on March tenth, her Majesty’s birthday, 
to wear a bouquet of flowers in his theatre. 

Marianne listened with great interest. She was alto- 
gether a changed girl, and tried always to think of 
other people. 

“ Thanks to our good Queen,” her mother always was 
saying, “ God be praised that Marianne tries now to 
imitate her, for she is the model for all German maidens.” 

At exactly the same hour that, fifteen years before, 
as a bride, Louisa of Mecklenburg had entered Berlin, 
the Queen appeared in her violet-lined carriage. 

The Berliners cheered, but at the same moment their 
eyes filled. 

It was their Queen and as beautiful as ever, some de- 
clared even lovelier, but she seemed like a rose whose 
stem is no longer erect. Her cheeks were pale, her eyes 
were washed with weeping, and about her mouth, trying 
so hard to smile as of old, they saw lines of sorrow. 

“ How we hate him ! How we hate Napoleon ! ” and 
the people clenched their fists when they saw her. 

With her were her niece, Frederika, the Princess 
Charlotte, now tall and beautiful, the old Countess, and 
jolly Carl. 

The young princes were on horseback, the King was 
with his generals. 

“Long life to our good King! Long live Frederick 


304 TWO ROYAL FOES 

William ! ” shouted the Berliners, but when they saw 
the Queen and remembered how she had gone for their 
sake to Napoleon, her name rang from one side of Ber- 
lin to the other. 

At the palace an old man lifted her from her car- 
riage, folded her in his arms and led her away from the 
people. 

“ Her father, the old Duke ! 99 cried the Berliners, 
and they were not ashamed to weep openly. 

In a few moments Queen Louisa appeared on a bal- 
cony. 

The people went frantic with joy, and her cheeks 
grew pink, and she tried to smile, and then, the tears 
flowing from her eyes, prevented her. 

“ It is heartrending,” said a stranger to Madame von 
Bergman, who, herself, was making use of an embroid- 
ered handkerchief. “ When, Madame, I see that poor 
lady, our Queen, and think of all that she has suffered, 
and of our kingdom divided in two, and still ruled by 
Napoleon, I cannot restrain my speech.” 

“ Never mind, Herr Arndt,” said Madame von Berg- 
man, “ we all feel as you do.” 

The stranger started in alarm. 

“ You recognise me? I thought,” he said, “ that sor- 
row had so changed me that no one could know my fea- 
tures.” 


THE ENTRANCE INTO BERLIN 305 

“ You are safe with me,” said the good lady, who 
knew there was a price on the head of this patriotic 
poet. “ I am the mother-in-law of Herr Professor Rich- 
ard von Stork of the Tugendbund.” She lowered her 
voice as she said this last word. 

Arndt grasped her hand and then, walking away with 
her, told how he had been driven from land to land and 
torn from his son for the sake of the little one’s 
safety. 

“ When I thrust the child from me,” he said, 66 1 
could almost have cursed the French and the Corsican 
who rules them.” 

For a moment he was silent. 

Then he gazed about gay Unter den Linden. 

“ But, Madame,” his face looked like that of a 
prophet, “ I see to-day in this splendour, in these loud 
and continued cheers for the King, a hope that all 
hearts may be united in one common German spirit. I 
see more eyes wet with sorrow than bright with joy, 
and who knows what will come of it for our dear Fa- 
therland? ” 

Marianne’s eyes sparkled. 

Her one longing was to serve her country. But what 
could a girl do? 

Her face fell. 

At the corner of Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Lin- 


306 TWO ROYAL FOES 

den she came face to face with Bettina marching home- 
ward with the girls of the “ Luisenstift.” 

“ Come home with us, pray, my child,” said old Mad- 
ame von Bergman very kindly. 

Permission was given and Bettina joined them. She 
was now a big girl, and thirteen. 

“ Gracious Fraulein,” she said to Marianne, 66 how 
happy I am.” Then she laughed her gay little gurgle. 
“ I think, Gracious Fraulein, Frederick Barbarossa is 
waking. He is stretching himself, I think. He will rise 
soon and drive away Napoleon.” Arndt looked at her 
in surprise and then nodded. 

In the evening there was a grand illumination. 

The Berliners had pressed the King to appear in the 
theatre. 

“ Yes, yes,” he said, “ but first we will go to church 
and thank Almighty God for his mercy.” 

To celebrate his return he freed many prisoners, gave 
money to the poor, and remembered to thank all who 
had been loyal. 

On their part, the Berliners had the sculptor, Scha- 
dow, make a statue of the Queen and place it on an 
island in the Thiergarten. 

The King also founded an Order of Merit, and with 
grand ceremony bestowed it upon many, among them 


THE ENTRANCE INTO BE'RLIN 307 
the actor, Iffland, and the old clergyman who had an- 
swered Napoleon. 

But, in spite of all this, Prussia had no money. 

“ But our King does all he can,” said Ludwig to 
Madame von Bergman one evening when he and Pauline 
came to supper. 

“ Yes,” put in Franz, who was then in Berlin, “ he 
has ordered the Royal table to be laid with four dishes 
only at dinner, and at supper with two.” 

“ And I heard,” said Pauline, looking up from her 
embroidery, “ that when a servant asked how much 
champagne to order, the King said none should be pur- 
chased until all his subjects could drink beer again.” 

Madame von Bergman shook her head sadly. 

“No hope of that. Look at this coffee,” and she 
poured out a cupful from the pot on the tray the maid 
had brought in for the visitors. 

“ Oak bark, carrots, and beans burned together, that 
is our coffee, thanks to Napoleon.” 

While they were talking, in came a visitor. 

“ Napoleon has shot Andreas Hofer,” he announced, 
a at Mantua ! ” 

The two men started from their seats. 

“ Impossible ! ” they cried out, but alas, next day they 
learned the truth of it. This brave innkeeper of Inns- 


308 * TWO ROYAL FOES 

bruck, who had fought so bravely to free his people, 
had been betrayed by a friend to Napoleon and shot in 
Mantua, over the mountains. 

The Queen wept tears of sorrow when she heard of 
this sad tragedy. 

“ What a man,” she had written, “ is this Andreas 
Hofer, the leader of the Tyrolese. A peasant has be- 
come a captain, and what a captain ! His weapon, 
prayer, and his ally, God. Oh, that the time of the 
Maid of Orleans might return that the enemy might be 
driven from the land! ” 

It was about this time that Napoleon permitted Min- 
ister Hardenburg to return to his duties. At once affairs 
began to prosper. 

“ And the Queen,” Marianne wrote to her mother, “ is 
to take a journey. She is to go with the King and her 
children to all the places where she had lived as Crown 
Princess, to Paretz, to Oranienburg, and Peacock Is- 
land.” 

At Paretz the Queen walked up and down the avenues 
with her husband. Suddenly she turned to him very sol- 
emnly and said: 

“ Fritz, you have made me very happy, you and our 
children.” 

But Napoleon had no mind to add to her happiness. 

“ Pay your war debt ! ” he kept crying. 


THE ENTRANCE INTO BERLIN 309 

u We have no money,” said the poor Prussians. 

“ Then I rule you until you do,” was Napoleon’s un- 
changing answer. 

“ And the wretch,” said Madame von Stork, “ has 
ordered our King to assist a huge Russian force through 
Prussia.” 

“ And I heard,” said Pauline, “ that when the King 
heard the news he bowed his head and said that of all 
men he was most unlucky.” 

66 But our Queen,” put in Marianne, who was working 
at tent stitch, “ is to have a great pleasure.” 

The two ladies gazed at her in curiosity. 

“ She is going to visit her father,” answered Mari- 
anne. “ The Countess told me. She has not been home 
for many years, and when she told the King of her 
great longing, he consented. She is to leave to-mor- 
row.” 

Bettina, who was on her way to the “ Stork’s Nest,” 
saw her depart. Catching sight of the girl, the Queen 
smiled a farewell. For some reason it made Bettina 
solemn. 

“ It was as if she were saying good-bye forever,” she 
told Marianne later. Marianne laughed merrily. 

“ She will be back in a few days. What nonsense! ” 


CHAPTER XXIV 

“MY QUEEN, MY POOR QUEEN!” 

On the night of July 18 a travelling carriage dashed 
towards Fiirstenburg, the first town within the Duke 
of Mecklenburg’s dominions, the driver urging its 
horses to their utmost. 

Within sat the King, pale and thin from a severe 
attack of malaria. With him were the Crown Prince 
and Prince William, the faces of the boys wet with 
tears, their eyes struggling with weariness. 

On dashed the horses. 

M Faster ! Faster ! ” now and then ordered the King, 
clenching his hands. 

Presently a rosy light heralded the day, the clarion 
of the cocks announced the morning, the stars faded 
from the brightening sky, and the carriage dashed 
through Fiirstenburg. 

Two hours more. The King looked at his watch and 
cried : 

“ Faster ! Faster ! ” 

The people of the town, startled by the wheels, won- 
dered who was passing in such haste. Later came a sec- 
310 


“MY QUEEN, MY POOR QUEEN!” 311 
ond carriage, a girl’s white, tearful face gazing from 
one window, a round, rosy-cheeked boy against her 
shoulder. 

It was the King, the Crown Prince and Prince Wil- 
liam, and Princess Charlotte and Prince Carl hastening 
to Queen Louisa. 

After she had reached Mecklenburg the King had 
joined her. 

Never had he seen her look happier. 

Like a girl, she told him of how she had been met at 
Fiirstenburg by her sister, Frederika, her father and 
her brothers. Her grandmother, being old, welcomed 
her at the door of the Duke’s palace, and for the first 
time in many years she found herself alone with her own 
people. 

When the King came they were given a public recep- 
tion. 

“ But only one, let it be, dear father,” begged Queen 
Louisa. “ I feel that this happiness cannot last. Some- 
thing oppresses me, so please let us make the most of 
seeing each other in quiet.” 

When she dressed herself for this one reception, her 
ladies noticed that she had only pearls for jewels. 

“ I have sold the rest,” she said with a smile, “ but, 
never mind, pearls are suitable for me, for they signify 
tears, and I have shed many. Moreover,” and she took 


312 TWO ROYAL FOES 

out a miniature worn about her neck, “ I have my best 

treasure.” 

It was a picture of the King, and the Queen gazed 
at it lovingly. 

“ After all these years, my good Fritz loves me quite 
the same,” she said, and looked as happy as a girl. 

“ Come, Fritz,” she cried to her husband, and led him 
about, showing him this and that and telling stories of 
her childhood. Never had she seemed so happy. 

One morning they were to go to see a chapel the King 
had expressed an interest in. 

“ I will stay with George,” said the Queen, who com- 
plained of not feeling well, and so they left her with 
her brother. 

When her father returned he found on his writing 
desk a note written in French, by his daughter, the 
Queen. 

“ My dear father,” he read, “ I am very happy to-day 
as your daughter and as the wife of the best of hus- 
bands. Louisa. 

“ New Strelitz, July 28, 1810.” 

At once he showed it to the King, and the two men 
were silent with happiness. But little did they think 
that never again was the woman who so loved them to 
touch paper or pen. 


“MY QUEEN, MY POOR QUEEN!” 313 
She had not been well, but nothing had been thought 
of it. And now, in the early summer morning, the King 
was hastening to her. 

“ Faster ! ” he called. “ Faster ! ” 

She had told him good-bye with a smile and the hope 
of soon seeing him, and he had returned to Berlin. 
There had come despatch after despatch. 

“ The Queen is ill. She grows worse. Come ! Come ! ” 
But this poor, always unfortunate King was himself 
severely ill with a sudden attack of malaria. For days 
he could not leave his bed, and it was not until the 
twenty-eighth that he set off for New Strelitz. And 
then the Queen was so ill there was no delaying. 

It was between four and five in the morning when the 
carriage reached the castle. 

The Queen, who lay awake in her room, heard them 
come. At midnight she had grown worse, at two she 
had called out to her sister, who at once went to her 
bed. 

“ Dear Frederika,” she asked in a voice like a whis- 
per, “ what will my husband and children do if I die? ” 
But now the King had come. 

In the hall he met the physicians. They explained 
that an abscess had formed and burst in one lung. The 
heart was involved and the Queen was sinking. 

“ Majesty,” they said, “ there is no hope.” 


314? TWO ROYAL FOES 

The Queen’s old grandmother, her withered cheeks 
wet with tears, took the King’s hand in both of hers. 

“ While there is life there is hope,” she said, her old 
voice struggling to comfort him. 

Unlucky Frederick William shook his head. 

“ If she were not mine,” he said, “ she might recover.” 

The old Duke j oined him. In the night they had called 
him from his sleep. 

The Princess Frederika was at the door. 

“ Is my daughter in danger? ” he asked. 

She pressed his hand. 

“ Lord,” said the poor old father, “ Thy ways are not 
our ways.” 

With trembling hands he now led the King to the 
room. 

Propped up on pillows, the bed curtains looped back 
to give her air, lay poor Queen Louisa. 

On one side was the old Countess von Voss, Frau von 
Berg held one hand, and Princess Frederika the other. 

The poor “ Rose of the King,” whose stem had been 
so roughly handled, had drooped forever. 

When the physicians had entreated her to move that 
she might be more comfortable, it was impossible for her 
strength to accomplish it. 

“ I am a Queen,” she said sadly , 66 and I have no power 
to move my arm.” 


“MY QUEEN, MY POOR QUEEN!” 315 

But when she saw the King, joy made her like the old 
Louisa. 

The King embraced her as if he would never again 
see her. 

“ Am I then so ill? ” she asked. 

The King went from the room. 

The poor Queen gazed from one face to the other, and 
the strength again left her. 

“ The King seems as if he wished to take leave of 
me,” she gasped. “ Tell him not to do so, or I shall die 
directly.” 

At once he returned and sat on her bed and the min- 
utes wore away, the arms of the old Countess supporting 
her dear Queen Louisa. 

“Where are my children, Fritz?” 

The Crown Prince and William came, hand in hand, 
to her bed. 

“ My Fritz ! My William ! ” she said, and gave them 
each a smile. Then she struggled to ask about Char- 
lotte, who had sent her a letter about her birthday full 
of tears that her mother was absent. 

The effort brought on such pain that they sent the 
boys away. 

They went from the castle and out into the garden 
where the air was fresh and cool and the dew lay on 
the roses. 


316 TWO ROYAL FOES 

In the room the doctors were begging the Queen to 
stretch her arms that she might lie higher. 

“ I cannot,” said the poor Queen. “ Only death will 
help me.” 

Holding her hand, the King sat on the bed, the old 
Countess knelt, and Frau von Berg supported her head. 

All through her illness she had repeated over and over 
the texts which she loved and found comfort in, but now 
her lips could only flutter as the breath came slower and 
slower. 

The poor King, with bowed head, was thinking of 
Jena and all his Queen had suffered. 

Suddenly the Queen drew her head against the breast 
of Frau von Berg. Her blue eyes opened and gazed to- 
wards heaven. 

“ I am dying,” she said quite distinctly, “ Lord Je- 
sus, make it short.” 

In a few minutes the Queen of Prussia had passed 
beyond the power of Napoleon to harm. 

“ The ways of the Lord,” wrote the old Countess, 
“ are implacable and holy, but they are dreadful to 
travel. The King, the children, the city have lost all 
in the world. I speak not for myeslf, but my sorrow 
is great. My Queen! Oh, my poor Queen!” 


CHAPTER XXV 
AFTERWARDS 

When his first grief was stilled, the King went to Fritz 
and Willy in the garden. Plucking a branch on which 
grew three roses, he returned with the little princes to 
the Queen. The three kissed her, and the King laid the 
roses in her hand as the second carriage dashed up to 
the palace. 

Charlotte and Carl had come too late. Their mother 
had been dead a half hour. The old Countess was all 
they had now, and she hushed her sobs to comfort the 
King and her Queen’s poor children, but, poor old lady, 
her heart was broken at eighty and she lived only a few 
years more. 

The doctors who examined the body of Queen Lou- 
isa after death declared that a polypus, formed by grief 
and worry, had grown on her heart and killed her, but 
the people of Prussia would have none of this. 

“ A polypus, nein,” they said. “ It is Napoleon who 
has done this. We will rise. We will drive the tyrant 
from our land, for he has killed the best friend of 
Prussia.” 

“ The ravens, Bettina,” said the Herr Lieutenant, 
317 


318 TWO ROYAL FOES 

“ will fly now from Kyffhauser. Wait, old Barbarossa 
will wake now and save us.” 

But the peasants had another hero. 

“ Shill is not dead ! ” they cried. “ The brave Shill is 
not dead. He, too, loved our Queen. He is in hiding 
and will lead us against Napoleon.” 

“ It is as if we had lost a member of our own fam- 
ily,” wept Madame von Stork, as she tried to comfort 
poor Marianne. 

When they brought the Queen’s body to Berlin and 
it lay in state, Bettina went, with the girls of the “ Lu- 
isenstift ” to look for the last time on the face of the 
Queen who had cared for her. The Berliners who gazed 
also, thought their own thoughts, made up their minds, 
and went home to await the funeral, which took place 
on the thirtieth, the Royal children with their father fol- 
lowing the coffin, a nurse bearing in her arms the new 
baby, little Albrecht. 

“ After J ena,” said the Berliners, “ we thought we 
had lost all, but then we had our Queen.” 

Not even the Queen’s death, however, moved Napo- 
leon, who, having Prussia under his thumb', meant to 
keep her there. Realising this, many patriotic Germans, 
refusing to accept French rule, departed to St. Peters- 
burg. Among them was Baron von Stein, for the Czar, 
who was beginning to tire of his friend Napoleon, in- 


AFTERWARDS 319 

vited him to be his counsellor. After his departure Pro- 
fessor von Stork received a letter from Otto. 

“ Napoleon rules Prussia,” he wrote. “ If I return 
home I must fight as he orders, for we fear a war with 
Russia. In St. Petersburg Baron von Stein is forming 
a German legion of deserters from Prussia. I shall join 
it. Never will I fight under the banners of France. 
Arndt is in St. Petersburg, also, and will be Stein’s sec- 
retary. Between them and with Hardenburg as Minis- 
ter, Prussia may yet be saved. Until then, Auf wieder- 
sehen.” 

On the very day that this letter arrived, Berlin was 
startled by the news that Napoleon with his soldiers was 
to march against Alexander. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


THE CHECK 

East Prussia again was frozen. The snow lay deep on 
the ground and the ice rattled on the tree limbs as it 
had done in that year when Bettina and Hans met the 
Queen on her flight to Memel. Never, the East Prus- 
sians declared, had they known a winter so terrible. In 
the towns the women, in their wadded cloaks, went still 
and sad, and the men, in the high-runner sleighs with 
the breath frozen on their beards, talked in mournful 
sentences, for they knew that the frozen Vistula held 
fast beneath its icy crust a secret which, when spring 
should reveal it, would turn them sick with horror and 
make fiercer than ever their hatred of Napoleon. 

Not that they did not hate him enough already. The 
Tugendbund had carried the news of the poor Queen’s 
suffering into every hamlet of Prussia. Napoleon had 
killed her, the people cried out, and in secret they were 
making ready to fight him. Never, they believed, had a 
country been more cruelly treated. Villages had been 
destroyed, towns burned, innocent men shot or mis- 
treated, In the free city of Hamburg hundreds of sick 
had been driven by Davoust from the hospitals, orphans 
320 


THE CHECK 321 

expelled from their asylums. Twenty thousand Ham- 
burgers, ordered from the city, shivering in the icy 
coldness, watched the French burn their country houses, 
the flames blazing up against a winter sky and lighting 
a blackened and desolate country. Near Dresden women 
were ordered out from their homes and children, and 
with wheelbarrows, were compelled to bring in the dead 
and the dying, while Napoleon enjoyed himself in the 
theatre. 

The check, however, had come in that icy winter of 
1812-13. 

Along the road from Russia, limping on frozen feet 
bound with straw, or marking with blood the snow, came 
French and Prussian soldiers, dropping here, dying 
there, sinking on land or into the Vistula. Five hundred 
thousand French and the Germans forced to assist Na- 
poleon in this war against Russia, had marched with 
flying banners against Moscow. Instead of Russians, 
flames met them, and now twenty thousand, for the oth- 
ers had perished in the snow, or were frozen in the Vis- 
tula, were limping back to Prussia. The horses had 
fallen like leaves before the icy blasts of the Raltic, and 
their bodies marked the line of Napoleon’s retreat from 
Moscow. On they struggled, swords gone, their feet 
like clods, their glory vanished. Half starved, there was 
nothing for them to eat, for in Napoleon’s own wan 


322 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


against Prussia they had burned her farmhouses, de- 
stroyed her crops and killed hfcr farmers. They had 
sown destruction and now were reaping famine. 

44 But God be praised,” cried Otto von Stork, sitting 
at the campfire of the German legion, 44 Napoleon is 
beaten.” 

44 Ja wohl,” cried his companions, flushed with their 
pursuit of the flying. Then Otto lifted his voice and 
started a hymn Arndt had written for German sol- 
diers : 

What is the German’s Fatherland? 

Oh name at length this mighty land. 

As wide as sounds the German tongue, 

And German hymns to God are sung, 

That is the land; 

That, German, name thy Fatherland! 

To us this glorious land is given; 

Oh Lord of Hosts look down from Heaven, 

And grant us Germans loyalty 

To love our country faithfully; 

To love our land, 

Our undivided Fatherland ! ” 

And, as they sang, Otto remembered Friedland and 
his brother, Wolfgang. He remembered Queen Louisa 
and how she had often smiled at him in Memel, he re- 
membered his beloved hero, Shill, and brave Andreas 
Hofer. Suddenly he interrupted his song with a laugh. 

66 Bet tin a was right,” he thought. 44 Poor little 


THE CHECK 


maiden ! Old Barbarossa has waked up and his sword 
is the spirit of the German people.” 

And when war was over, one day he appeared in 
Konigsberg, a great, handsome soldier. 

“ Ach Himmel ! ” said his mother, “ but I am glad to 
see my boy again.” But Otto had talk only for the fu- 
ture of Germany. 

His father nodded when he declared that good for- 
tune would come again to Prussia. And then he told 
how, all over Prussia, and in the smaller states, the peo- 
ple were refusing to speak French, wear French clothes, 
or be anything but good Germans. 

“ God be praised ! ” he ended piously. 

“Where is Bettina, mother?” asked Otto quite sud- 
denly. 

When he heard of the “ Luisenstift ” his face fell, 
for he had intended teasing her about Frederick Bar- 
barossa. 

“ And Hans ? ” 

“Not a word has ever been heard of him,” answered 
his father sadly. 

“ Shot, perhaps,” said Otto. “ Poor old man ! ” and 
he offered his arm to his mother. Nothing pleased her 
more than to walk out with her fine soldier boy. She 
forgot all the trouble he had caused her and remembered 
only that he had returned a hero. 


324 , TWO ROYAL FOES 

Carl followed him everywhere, and informed the 
family that he, too, would be a soldier. 

“ No, no ! ” cried his mother, shrinking. 

But the professor reproved her. 

“ All my sons,” he said most solemnly, “ I give freely 
to the Fatherland.” 

But Madame von Stork, remembering her Wolfgang, 
set hard her lips. 

“ If there comes a war against Napoleon, I shall go 
as a nurse. I am old enough now, am I not, dear 
father ? 99 and Marianne slipped her arm around his 
neck. 

The professor nodded. 

“ I agree willingly, dear daughter,” and he pressed 
her hand. 

Goethe was no longer Marianne’s hero. 

“ He sat in his garden in quiet,” she said, “ when the 
cannon roared at Jena, and never in all our trouble has 
he raised his voice for Germany. He is the greatest 
poet, yes, but not a hero. He saw Napoleon, he admired 
him, and says he has sympathy with him because of his 
great dream of uniting Europe, I cannot forgive it.” 


CHAPTER XXVII 
THE PEOPLE’S WAR 

Bettina’s head was shaven like a boy’s, and she held 
out to Marianne her golden hair, long, heavy and in 
thick waves. 

As for Marianne, herself, she was laying on a table 
in the room in which the two stood, all her books, her 
beloved Goethe, Schiller, all of them, her laces and the 
jewels which had been given her since her childhood. 

<e How nice it is, dear Bettina,” she said, “ to have 
you again with us, now that after all these dreadful 
years, we are again in Berlin.” 

Bettina’s face glowed. 

“ Yes, dear Mademoiselle ” 

Marianne lifted her hand. 

“ No French, Bettina, German.” 

“Ja, ja, dear Fraulein Marianne, please excuse me. 
I was so happy when I heard that the Herr Professor 
was to come to the new University here in Berlin and 
that the Gracious Frau Mother would need me again.” 

Marianne smiled, and then, lifting her hand to stop 
conversation, for she heard someone, she called out: 

“ Ilse, Elsa, here, come, bring your offerings here!” 

325 


326 TWO ROYAL FOES 

In came the twins, tall like Bettina, and quite young 
ladies, but as much alike as ever. 

In their hands were trinkets, books, needlework and 
laces. 

“Here,” they said, and placed them on the table. 
Then catching sight of Bettina, they cried: “Your 
hair, oh, Bettina! Your lovely, lovely hair!” 

“ It was all I had,” said Bettina blushing. “ They 
tell me it will sell and for much money.” 

Carl came out next, a tall young fellow now with a 
faint moustache to foretell his manhood. 

“ This is all I have, dear sister,” and he added to the 
pile a little purse, some books, and a pair of pistols, 
once his grandfather’s. 

Madame von Stork followed, her hair gray now, her 
face lined with sorrow. In her arms was a pile of fine 
embroideries, linen and lace-trimmed table covers. In 
one hand was a box of jewels, in the other the amethyst 
necklace her sister Erna had worn to the marriage of 
Princess Frederika. 

Behind her came the Herr Professor, Franz and Otto, 
bearing books, old weapons and each a purse of gold. 

“ Now, the maids,” cried Marianne. “ Here, 
Gretchen, oh, that is fine!” for the rosy-cheeked girl 
laid on the pile her peasant necklace of old coins. 


THE PEOPLE’S WAR 327 

Elise, the other, gave the gold pins with which she 
fastened her headdress. 

“ And the Gracious Frau,” they said, glancing at 
Madame von Stork, “ can give half our wages.” 

While they talked, in came Ludwig and Pauline. 
With them was a tiny child, bearing in her dimpled, 
chubby hands an earthen pot or bank in which people 
save money. Ludwig led her to the table. 

“For the dear Fatherland,” she lisped, and she laid 
her little offering with the rest. 

Ludwig and Pauline added theirs, the one, gold, the 
other, linen, silver and ornaments. 

For a moment there was silence, then the Herr Pro- 
fessor stepped to the table. His eye glanced from Bet- 
tina’s shaven head to the bank of the tiny Ernchen. 
Then he held his hands above the gifts. 

“ Dear Father in Heaven,” he said, “ bless the offer- 
ings of great and small, rich and poor, to the use of the 
dear Fatherland, and let truth and rightousness 
prosper.” 

“ Amen,” said all the “ Stork’s Nest.” 

Then he drew forward Carl, Otto and Franz. 

“ Our sons, also,” he said, and looked at his wife. 

“ Ja, ja, Richard,” she said, the tears falling. “I, 
too, am willing now.” 


328 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Marianne held out her hand to Bettina and drew her 
to the table. 

« We go as nurses, father. You have promised.” 

It was the “ People’s War,” the great German rising 
against Napoleon. All over the land, men, women, and 
children were giving their all. Russia and Austria 
joined with them and the great battle was fought at 
Leipsic in Saxony. The Crown Prince fought with his 
father, and when the victors marched into the city Carl, 
Franz and Otto were with them. 

The battle itself lasted three days. On the last of 
these the Emperor Francis, the Czar, and Frederick 
William were standing on a hill watching the battle. 

Up dashed an officer. Springing from his horse, he 
approached the three rulers. 

“We have conquered ! ” he cried. “ The enemy flies ! ” 

The three monarchs alighted with solemn joy from 
their horses, knelt on the field and thanked God for the 
victory. 

The entrance into Leipsic was magnificent. The al- 
lied armies formed in a great square about the market 
place, their sovereigns in the centre. The Prussians in 
their blue coats, red and white striped waistcoats, white 
trousers, high boots and bearskin caps, held their eagle 
aloft before the old Rathaus. The Russians, in blue 
coats and red collars, their trousers strapped over their 


THE PEOPLE’S WAR 329 

boots, bore their flags of white and yellow, while the 
Austrians, in white and red, completed the huge square 
of soldiers. 

Bells were rung, flags were waved, and, when the war 
was declared ended, Napoleon was banished to the Is- 
land of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. 

“ Now we are rid of the monster,” said Madame von 
Stork. “ We can all be happy. Thank the good God, I 
again have my children.” 

But the world was not yet through with the foe of 
Queen Louisa. 

“Napoleon has escaped! Marshall Ney has joined 
him! Our foe is loose again!” was the cry which, not 
many months later, rang through Europe. 

It was all to be done over again. But this time Eng- 
land joined Prussia. Off marched Franz, Otto and Carl, 
and Marianne and Bettina again became nurses. 

66 Ach Himmel ! ” wept Madame von Stork, “ will the 
world never be rid of this monster? ” 

Ludwig nodded. 

“ This is the last,” he said. “ We now have England 
to help us.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE FOE CONQUERED 

On the eleventh day of June, in the year 1815, Prince 
William received his first communion, all the Royal 
family being present. The next day, he and his father, 
the King, departed to join the army. 

At Merseburg they were stopped by a courier. A 
great battle had been fought near Brussels, the Eng- 
lish under the Duke of Wellington, the Prussians un- 
der General Bliicher, the brave commander who had 
wept when he had given up the keys of Liibeck. 

“ Napoleon is conquered ! 99 announced the courier as 
he handed the despatches to the King. 

The English call the battle “ Waterloo,” the Prus- 
sians, “ La Belle Alliance.” 

Old Bliicher had proved his words by fighting. The 
English had fought steadily, Bliicher having promised 
to come if he heard the firing. The French, who had de- 
feated him a few days before, were in a position to ren- 
der this well-nigh impossible. But when the cannon 
sounded, the brave old Prussian thought only of his 
promise. 


330 


THE FOE CONQUERED 331 

“ Forward, children, forward!” he cried to his sol- 
diers. 

“We cannot, Father Bliicher,” they answered. “ It 
is impossible.” 

“ Forward, children, forward! ” the old man repeated. 
“We must. I have promised my brother, Wellington. 
I have promised, do you hear? It shall not be said that 
I broke my word. Forward, children, forward ! ” 

And so they came to Waterloo and the Allies con- 
quered Napoleon. 

“ The most splendid battle has been fought. The 
most glorious victory won,” wrote old Bliicher. “ I 
think the Napoleon story is ended.” 

In triumph, the Allies entered Paris, and Napoleon, 
throwing himself on the protection of the English, was 
banished to the Island of St. Helena. 

“ Alas,” wrote a great Frenchman, “ had Napoleon 
made a friend of Queen Louisa at Tilsit this might 
never have happened, for then would Frederick William 
have refused to join the Allies.” 

Napoleon had valued Magdeburg above a hundred 
Queens, but one Queen had conquered him, and Europe 
was free from the man who had warred with it for 
twenty years. 

“ But,” the Queen of Prussia once wrote, “ we may 
learn much from Napoleon; what he has done will not be 


TWO ROYAL FOES 


lost upon us. It would be blasphemous to say that God 
has been with him, but he seems to be an instrument in 
the hands of the Almighty to do away with old things 
that have lost their vitality, to cut off, as it were, the 
dead wood which is still externally one with the tree to 
which it owes its existence. That which is dead is ut- 
terly useless— that which is dying does but draw the 
sap from the trunk and give nothing in return.” 

M I did, indeed, enjoy the sight of Napoleon,” the 
mother of Goethe told Marianne’s Bettina Brentano. 
“ He it is who has enwrapped the whole world in an en- 
chanted dream, and for this mankind should be grateful, 
for if they did not dream they would have got nothing 
by it, and have slept like clods as they hitherto have 
done.” 

After Napoleon had stirred up Europe with his wars, 
things changed, and the ways of the world became what 
we call “ Modem Times,” and for this even the poor 
Prussians thanked him, for many things improved and 
liberty came more and more to the people. They spoke 
their own language, they drew closer together, and, in 
their war against a foe, they learned to love their Fa- 
therland. 


CHAPTER XXIX 
THURINGIA 

While Franz, Otto and Carl were fighting, Marianne 
and Bettina Were nursing the wounded soldiers. 

One day Bettina was called to assist with a wounded 
Thuringian. 

When she saw his face she cried out: 

44 Willy! Willy Schmidt from Jena!” 

The soldier’s face lit up with welcome. 

“ Ach Himmel ! ” he cried, 44 if it isn’t Bettina Wey- 
land ! ” 

But the doctor ordered no talking, and so the two 
could only smile at each other. But when Waterloo was 
many days old, and the soldier almost well again, there 
was much to talk about. 

Certainly Willy had a strange tale to tell. It was 
about Bettina’s grandfather. 

44 Ach Himmel, child ! ” he said to Bettina, <4 he is 
alive and with mother and father.” And he told how, 
after the 44 Peace of Tilsit,” the old man had wandered 
back to Thuringia. 

44 But don’t think he forgot you, Bettina,” said Willy 
very hastily. Then he touched his head. 44 Poor old 
333 


S3 4 TWO ROYAL FOES 

man,” he added, 44 he has f orgotten everything,” and 
he told poor, wild-eyed Bettina that old Hans was like a 
child, always talking about Frederick the Great and his 
battles, and remembering not a word about Jena. 

44 But the queer thing,” said Willy, 44 is that he starts 
at any very loud noise and he had the mark of a wound 
on the back of his head. What it means we have no idea, 
as he remembers nothing.” 

Bettina’s tears fell fast. 

44 Grandfather,” she said over and over, 44 my poor, 
dear, old grandfather! 

44 I will go home to J ena and see him,” she cried. 44 1 
will tell Fraulein Marianne.” 

“And I will take you,” announced Willy, 44 just as 
soon as I am well enough to travel.” And he gazed at 
Bettina as if he thought her very pretty. 

44 And little Hans and the baby ? ” asked Bettina. 
Willy laughed as loud as his weakness would permit him. 

44 Hans, ach Himmel! That’s a joke, little Hans! 
There’s no telling how many Frenchmen he finished in 
one battle. The baby is eight now,” he added. 

“Hans a soldier, the baby, a big boy!” How the 
years had flown! Jena, yesterday; Waterloo, to-day. 

44 Yes,” said the girl, 44 1 will go back to Thuringia.” 

Then a smile lit her pretty face. 

44 Do you remember, Willy, how grandfather left 


THURINGIA 335 

word we would come back when Napoleon was con- 
quered? ” 

“ It is nine years,” said Willy, “ but you can come 
now, for Napoleon is conquered.” 

Bettina nodded, her face still wet with tears, while 
her mouth was smiling. 

“ They will all be glad to see you,” continued Willy. 
“ Mother and father, and the Schmelzes, and your 
grandfather Weyland. He is just the same, quite as 
if nothing had happened.” 

And so Bettina went back, and old Hans called her 
“ Annchen,” thinking her always his daughter, and 
when she married Willy and had children of her own, 
he used to sing for them the old song of Frederick Bar- 
barossa, and tell them how he had seen the beautiful 
Princess Louisa come into Berlin in a gold coach to be 
married. 

Marianne went back to the 46 Stork’s Nest,” and 
presently home came her brothers. Madame von Stork’s 
face lost its troubled look, and only the memory of 
Wolfgang came to make their happy home troubled. 

“ Marianne is the best daughter a mother ever had,” 
she often told her husband, “ and I owe it to our good 
Queen, for books and Goethe nearly ruined her.” 

“ Not Goethe,” the professor always said, but his 
wife insisted. 


3 36 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Certainly a great honour was to come to Mari- 
anne. 

On March 10, 1816, on the anniversary of the birth- 
day of the Queen, Marianne was summoned to Court, 
and conducted to a great room where were gathered all 
the Royal family and many grand people, but the old 
Countess, however, was there no more. She had been a 
mother to her dear Queen’s children until she, too, had 
gone her way to a less troubled country than Prussia. 
After a long list of names, 66 Marianne Hedwig Erna 
Wilhelmina Ernestine von Stork ” was called. 

In her trembling hand the King placed a golden 
cross with the letter “ L ” in black enamel on a ground 
of blue encircled with stars. On the back were the dates, 
1813-14. A white ribbon held it, and there was a pin 
to fasten it above her heart. It was the medal of the 
“ Order of Louisa,” instituted by the King in memory 
of the Queen, and given to those women of Prussia who 
had so nobly soothed the wounded and the sick in the 
war against Napoleon. Marianne was the happiest 
person in Germany. 

As for her mother, she was never weary of showing 
the medal and telling her friends, “ My Marianne re- 
ceived it.” 

Marianne’s friend, Bettina Brentano, wrote a book 
called “ Correspondence of a Child,” into which she put 


THURINGIA 337 

all her wild fancies about Goethe, and to-day German 
girls are fond of reading it. She married a German au- 
thor, and her granddaughter is a living writer. 

But the story is not quite ended. 

In the year 1872 crowds were again gathered on the 
streets of Berlin. 

Standing on Unter den Linden was an old man with 
his grandchildren. Ilis hair was snow white and his face 
wrinkled. 

“ Ja, Gretchen,” he said to a little girl, whose hand 
was in his, “ in a little time we shall see our new Empe- 
ror. This is a great day, Liebchen, for Germany at last 
is free and united.” 

“I know, dear grandfather,” said one of the others, 
a clever looking boy they called Richard, “I have 
learned all about it in the Gymnasium, of Napoleon and 
Jena, and Queen Louisa and Napoleon, and of the 
Crown Prince who was Frederick William IV, and all 
Bismarck’s and von Moltke’s dreams of uniting our Ger- 
many.” 

The old man smiled. 

66 The Queen kissed me once,” he said, “ Queen Lou- 
isa, I mean, the mother of our new Emperor.” Then he 
laughed. 

“It’s a great day for your old grandfather, chil- 
dren,” he said. “ Why, the Emperor and I, he was little 


338 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Prince William then, used to fight battles against rats 
and mice in the old castle at Konigsburg. It’s a great 
day. God be praised that I live to see it,” said Carl von 
Stork to his grandchildren. “ Alas,” he added, “ that 
none of the 4 Stork’s Nest’ are left to rejoice with 
me! ” 

“ Simple, honourable, sensible ” little William had ac- 
complished the great things his mother had hoped one 
of her children would do for mankind. Before he had 
gone to fight the French Emperor, Napoleon III, at the 
battle of Sedan, he had prayed at his mother’s tomb that 
he might do great things for Prussia. After the Ger- 
mans entered Paris all the states had elected him Em- 
peror and Germany at last was one Fatherland. 

And now he was returning to Berlin with Bismarck 
and von Moltke, his councillor and general. 

Suddenly Carl smiled. 

“ Ah,” he said as the Royal guests passed in their 
carriages, “ there is the Dowager Grand Duchess of 
Mecklenburg-Schwerin. See, Richard, the pretty old 
lady with the white hair. She was the Royal baby when 
we were at Memel. She was named Alexandrina for the 
Czar, and how the old Countess loved her! They called 
her ‘ The Little Autocrat.’ I remember Princess Lou- 
isa, who was named for the Queen and who was the baby 
at Konigsburg, died during the war. There is ‘ The Red 


THURINGIA 339 

Hussar,’ grandson of Queen Louisa. Ach Himmel ! What 
a hero ! ” 

When the people of Berlin saw the kind, good face 
of “ little William,” their new Kaiser, cries rent the air. 
“ Long live the Emperor ! Hoch der Kaiser ! Hoch ! ” 
There were cheers for his wife, also, the granddaughter 
of the Duchess of Weimar, who so bravely answered 
Napoleon. 

As for old Frederick Barbarossa, there is a poet who 
tells us that, when he heard all the noise the Germans 
were making, he sent a sleepy little page from Kryff- 
hauser to see what the ravens were up to. 

“ They have flown away, Kaiser,” announced the 
frightened little page as he ran back to the table. 

With a great yawn the old Kaiser rose from his chair 
and stretched himself. His sword in one hand, his scep- 
tre in the other, a glittering crown on his flaming hair, 
he came blinking into the sunlight. 

“Ach Himmel!” he cried, for before him were all 
the lords of Germany, no longer fighting and quarrel- 
ling with each other, but smiling and singing the lively 
tunes of “ Germany over all,” “ United Germany shall 
it be,” and “ The Watch on the Rhine.” 

The old Redbeard beamed with delight. 

“ One Germany ! ” he cried, “ then God be thanked 
and praised ! One Germany ! ” 


340 TWO ROYAL FOES 

He turned to little William, standing between Bis- 
marck and von Moltke, the statesman and general who 
had made him “ Kaiser.” 

In his hand he laid the scepter, on his head he placed 
the crown. 

“ These,” he said, “I lay in thy hand.” 

Then he breathed a long sigh of happiness. 

u God be praised,” he said again. “ I can now go to 
sleep and be happy,” and he went back into his cave 
to his ivory chair and his head sank to his hands as he 
settled his elbows on the marble table and the old Red- 
beard went again to his dreams. 

They say he still sleeps in Thuringia, but calmly and 
happily, because there is one Germany, one Kaiser, and 
the ravens no longer trouble him. 


CHAPTER XXX 

THE FOES AT REST 

To-day, the two Royal Foes sleep in the two famous 
mausoleums of the Continent, Queen Louisa at Char- 
lottenburg, Napoleon in Paris. Beneath the dome of 
<c Les Invalides ” is the sarcophagus of Bonaparte. On 
the mosiac pavement the names of his battles are in- 
scribed within a wreath of laurel. Sixty flags that he 
captured adorn the tomb decorated with reliefs and 
lighted by a glow which falls, most golden, about the 
coffin of the conqueror. 

With him sleep his faithful Duroc and the Bertrand 
who brought his message to Queen Louisa and so of- 
fended the old Countess with his bad manners. 

The words above the entrance are Napoleon’s own : 

“ 1 desire that my ashes repose on the banks of the 
Seine in the midst of the French people I loved so well.” 

On each side is a figure of Atlas, one bearing a globe, 
the other, a sceptre and crown. 

All is of earthly glory and victory. 

Queen Louisa sleeps in a spot where she once loved to 
walk with her husband and children. A quiet avenue of 
pine trees leads to a grove of black firs, cypresses and 
341 


34,2 TWO ROYAL FOES 

Babylonian willows, bordered with white roses, lilies, 
Hortensia, the favourite flowers of the Queen, and at 
the end stands the mausoleum which Frederick William 
erected to her memory. 

A flight of steps leads through the iron door to the 
interior, where, in a violet light, sleeps the Queen, the 
King, and the Emperor William and the granddaugh- 
ter of the Duchess of Weimar. 

The sculptor, Rauch, to whom the Queen once was 
very kind, carved a statue of her so beautiful that it is 
almost impossible to gaze on its loveliness without weep- 
ing. 

At her feet is buried the heart of the Crown Prince, 
King Frederick William IY of Prussia, in a case of 
silver. 

As long as her husband lived he brought wreaths to 
the tomb. Before Charlotte went to be Empress of Rus- 
sia, she wept there. The first Kaiser, to the end of his 
long life, prayed there, and little Alexandrina, who died 
only a year or two ago, and saw her parent’s prayer an- 
swered, never forgot the wreath for her mother’ birth- 
day. 

Above the entrance appear two Greek letters. 

" I am Alpha and Omega,” they say, <fi the beginning 
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, 
and which is to come, the Almighty.” 


THE FOE AT REST 343 

The golden light which falls on Napoleon tells of the 
glory of the world and things of victory. 

Queen Louisa’s kingdom was not, as she said, of this 
world ; but still she lives, the “ Queen of Every Heart ” 
in the German Empire, “ Her name,” writes a German 
author, “ a watchword with the patriot.” 

Napoleon was the Emperor of the French, the con- 
queror of Europe; Queen Louisa, the heroine of the 
German Struggle for Liberty. 


THE END 









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